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Hold off   /hoʊld ɔf/   Listen
verb
Hold  v. t.  (past & past part. held; pres. part. holding; past part. holden is obs)  
1.
To cause to remain in a given situation, position, or relation, within certain limits, or the like; to prevent from falling or escaping; to sustain; to restrain; to keep in the grasp; to retain. "The loops held one curtain to another." "Thy right hand shall hold me." "They all hold swords, being expert in war." "In vain he seeks, that having can not hold." "France, thou mayst hold a serpent by the tongue,... A fasting tiger safer by the tooth, Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold."
2.
To retain in one's keeping; to maintain possession of, or authority over; not to give up or relinquish; to keep; to defend. "We mean to hold what anciently we claim Of deity or empire."
3.
To have; to possess; to be in possession of; to occupy; to derive title to; as, to hold office. "This noble merchant held a noble house." "Of him to hold his seigniory for a yearly tribute." "And now the strand, and now the plain, they held."
4.
To impose restraint upon; to limit in motion or action; to bind legally or morally; to confine; to restrain. "We can not hold mortality's strong hand." "Death! what do'st? O, hold thy blow." "He had not sufficient judgment and self-command to hold his tongue."
5.
To maintain in being or action; to carry on; to prosecute, as a course of conduct or an argument; to continue; to sustain. "Hold not thy peace, and be not still." "Seedtime and harvest, heat and hoary frost, Shall hold their course."
6.
To prosecute, have, take, or join in, as something which is the result of united action; as to, hold a meeting, a festival, a session, etc.; hence, to direct and bring about officially; to conduct or preside at; as, the general held a council of war; a judge holds a court; a clergyman holds a service. "I would hold more talk with thee."
7.
To receive and retain; to contain as a vessel; as, this pail holds milk; hence, to be able to receive and retain; to have capacity or containing power for. "Broken cisterns that can hold no water." "One sees more devils than vast hell can hold."
8.
To accept, as an opinion; to be the adherent of, openly or privately; to persist in, as a purpose; to maintain; to sustain. "Stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught." "But still he held his purpose to depart."
9.
To consider; to regard; to esteem; to account; to think; to judge. "I hold him but a fool." "I shall never hold that man my friend." "The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."
10.
To bear, carry, or manage; as he holds himself erect; he holds his head high. "Let him hold his fingers thus."
To hold a wager, to lay or hazard a wager.
To hold forth,
(a)
v. t.to offer; to exhibit; to propose; to put forward. "The propositions which books hold forth and pretend to teach."
(b)
v. i. To talk at length; to harangue.
To held in, to restrain; to curd.
To hold in hand, to toy with; to keep in expectation; to have in one's power. (Obs.) "O, fie! to receive favors, return falsehoods, And hold a lady in hand."
To hold in play, to keep under control; to dally with.
To hold off, to keep at a distance.
To hold on, to hold in being, continuance or position; as, to hold a rider on.
To hold one's day, to keep one's appointment. (Obs.)
To hold one's own. To keep good one's present condition absolutely or relatively; not to fall off, or to lose ground; as, a ship holds her own when she does not lose ground in a race or chase; a man holds his own when he does not lose strength or weight.
To hold one's peace, to keep silence.-
To hold out.
(a)
To extend; to offer. "Fortune holds out these to you as rewards."
(b)
To continue to do or to suffer; to endure. "He can not long hold out these pangs."
To hold up.
(a)
To raise; to lift; as, hold up your head.
(b)
To support; to sustain. "He holds himself up in virtue."
(c)
To exhibit; to display; as, he was held up as an example.
(d)
To rein in; to check; to halt; as, hold up your horses.
(e)
to rob, usually at gunpoint; often with the demand to "hold up" the hands.
(f)
To delay.
To hold water.
(a)
Literally, to retain water without leaking; hence (Fig.), to be whole, sound, consistent, without gaps or holes; commonly used in a negative sense; as, his statements will not hold water. (Colloq.)
(b)
(Naut.) To hold the oars steady in the water, thus checking the headway of a boat.


Hold  v. i.  (past & past part. held; pres. part. holding)  In general, to keep one's self in a given position or condition; to remain fixed. Hence:
1.
Not to move; to halt; to stop; mostly in the imperative. "And damned be him that first cries, "Hold, enough!""
2.
Not to give way; not to part or become separated; to remain unbroken or unsubdued. "Our force by land hath nobly held."
3.
Not to fail or be found wanting; to continue; to last; to endure a test or trial; to abide; to persist. "While our obedience holds." "The rule holds in land as all other commodities."
4.
Not to fall away, desert, or prove recreant; to remain attached; to cleave; often with with, to, or for. "He will hold to the one and despise the other."
5.
To restrain one's self; to refrain. "His dauntless heart would fain have held From weeping, but his eyes rebelled."
6.
To derive right or title; generally with of. "My crown is absolute, and holds of none." "His imagination holds immediately from nature."
Hold on! Hold up! wait; stop; forbear. (Collog) To hold forth, to speak in public; to harangue; to preach.
To hold in, to restrain one's self; as, he wanted to laugh and could hardly hold in.
To hold off, to keep at a distance.
To hold on, to keep fast hold; to continue; to go on. "The trade held on for many years,"
To hold out, to last; to endure; to continue; to maintain one's self; not to yield or give way.
To hold over, to remain in office, possession, etc., beyond a certain date.
To hold to or To hold with, to take sides with, as a person or opinion.
To hold together, to be joined; not to separate; to remain in union.
To hold up.
(a)
To support one's self; to remain unbent or unbroken; as, to hold up under misfortunes.
(b)
To cease raining; to cease to stop; as, it holds up.
(c)
To keep up; not to fall behind; not to lose ground.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Hold off" Quotes from Famous Books



... mother said, in a very nasty way. "I don't know what has come over you, Barbara. You used to be a normle Child, and there was some accounting for what you were going to do. But now! Take off that nightgown, and I'll have Tanney hold off dinner for half ...
— Bab: A Sub-Deb • Mary Roberts Rinehart
... wished for, but the marriage was a condition. Everything was discussed and agreed upon—but the Queen succeeded in retaining her saving clause; the agreement was subject to Alencon and herself being personally satisfied. She was still able to hold off, while she had brought France into such a position that if war should be declared between England and Spain, France must join England. Walsingham was sent off to Paris, with the task before him of evading the marriage, ...
— England Under the Tudors • Arthur D. Innes
... the station was a pleasant one, for Pedro, after his rest, swung along at a swift clip. The wind was in their backs and the snow had not begun to fall. Jasper realised that the storm would not hold off much longer, and he wondered how the nurse would mind facing it for fifteen miles to Mrs. Bean's. The muffler that Lois had given him he was wearing. Betty had put it there before he left the Haven with the strict ...
— Under Sealed Orders • H. A. Cody
... Hold off! ye weaklings; hold your hands! Adventure it let none, For this emprise, my lord the king, ...
— Don Quixote • Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
... gentleman who knew him well. When that noble man, William Beckett, of Hamilton, was doing all in his power to assist in raising the 69th Regiment, a number of the "Southern Rights" sympathizers tried to dissuade McGillen from joining—bidding him to hold off until substitutes were called for, and then, if he would go, they would buy him. He, however, spurned their base offers, and enlisted; and, when crossing the river amid the leaden hail, he received a bullet in his arm; he hastily tied up the wound, and, though weakened ...
— Incidents of the War: Humorous, Pathetic, and Descriptive • Alf Burnett


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