To hold the stage, verb. phr. (theatrical).—To have the chief place on
the boards and the eye of an audience. Fr., avoir les planches.
To hold a candle to (the devil, etc.), verb. phr. (colloquial).—See
Devil, and add the following quot.
1868. Reade and Boucicault, Foul Play, p. 65. But you see, sir, he
has got the ear of the merchant ashore; and so I am obliged to hold
a candle to the devil.
To hold a candle to, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To vie with; to be
comparable to; also to assist in or condone.
1886. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 79. They had killed poor
Ransome; and was I to hold the candle to another murder?
To hold (or hang) on by the eyelids, eyelashes or eyebrows, verb. phr.
(common).—To pursue an object desperately; to insist upon a point; to
carry on a forlorn hope. See also quot. and Splash Board.
1883. Clark Russell, Sailor’s Language, p. 69. Holding on with his
eyelids. Said of a man aloft with nothing much to lay hold of.
To hold in hand, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To amuse; to possess the
attention or the mind; to have in one’s pocket.
To hold the market, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To buy stock and hold it
to so large an extent that the price cannot decline.
Do you hold? phr. (streets).—Have you money to lend? Can you stand
treat? Cf. verb., sense 1.
Hold your horses, phr. (American).—Go easy; don’t get excited: a
general injunction to calm in act and speech.
Hold your jaw, phr. (colloquial).—Hold your tongue; stow your gab
(q.v.).
Hold hard! (or on)! intj. (colloquial).—Wait a moment! don’t be in a
hurry!
1761. Colman, Jealous Wife, V., in Wks. (1777), i., 130. Hold hard!
hold hard! you are all on a wrong scent.
1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 280. ‘Hold hard!’ said the
conductor; ‘I’m blowed if we ha’n’t forgot the gen’lm’n as vas to
be set down at Doory-lane.’
1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. iv., p. 38 (1873). I told
Meaburn to hold on, and we’d get a rise out of Punch.
Hold-stitch.—See Stitch.
Hold-water.—See Water.
Hold-out, subs. (gambling).—An old-fashioned apparatus, in poker, for
‘holding out’ desirable cards.
Hole (venery).—1. The female pudendum. Also, Hole of Content, and Hole
(or Queen) of Holes. For synonyms, see Monosyllable. To give a hole to
hide it in = to grant the favour (q.v.). [Hence, by a play upon words,
Holy of Holies.]
1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, ii., 4. This drivelling love is
like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to hide his
bauble (q.v.) in a hole.
1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Carnafau, the brat-getting
place, or hole of content.
1620. Percy, Folio MS., p. 197. ... He light in a hole ere he was
aware!
1647–80. Rochester, Poems. Thou mighty princess, lovely queen of
holes.
d. 1649. Drummond, Posthumous Poems, ‘The Statue of Alcides.’ Fair
nymph, in ancient days, your holes, by far, Were not so hugely vast
as now they are.
1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., iv., 72. It has a head much like a
Mole’s, And yet it loves to creep in holes: The fairest She that
e’er took Life, For love of this became a Wife.