Search the Dictionary

To hold possession of; to hold. [Obs.] Not with me, That in my hands surprise the sovereignity. J. Webster.

To hold to be uncertain; to doubt; to mistrust; to distruct; as, to suspect the truth of a story. Addison.

To hold in an undetermined or undecided state; as, to suspend one's judgment or opinion. Locke.

hat which, suspends; esp., one of a pair of straps or braces worn over the shoulders, for holding up the trousers.

Anything which suspends or holds up a part: especially, the mandibular suspensorium (a series of bones, or of cartilages representing them) which connects the base of the lower jaw with the skull in most vertebrates below mammals.

That which suspends, or holds up, as a truss; specifically (Med.),

s and other workers in metals, for shaping their work, whether sheet metal or forging, by holding the swage upon the work, or the work upon the swage, and striking with a sledge. Swage block, a perforated block of iron, having grooved sides and adapted for use in heading bolts and swaging objects of large size.…

One who holds the doctrines of the New Jerusalem church, as taught by Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish philosopher and religious writer, who was born a. d. 1688 and died 1772. Swedenborg claimed to have intercourse with the spiritual world, through the opening of his spiritual senses in 1745. He taught that the Lord Jesus…

ia, on the fifth medal, leads a horse with something like a thread; in her other hand she holds a switch. Addison.

To hold the same faith; to agree. [R.] The believers in pretended miracles have always previously symbolized with the performers of them. G. S. Faber.

One who holds the doctrine of synergism.

As much as a tablespoon will hold; enough to fill a tablespoon. It is usually reckoned as one half of a fluid ounce, or four fluid drams.

Something used for taking hold or holding; a catch; a loop; a button. [Obs.] Ex. xxvi. 6.

A rope used to hold in place the foremost lower corners of the courses when the vessel is closehauled (see Illust. of Ship); also, a rope employed to pull the lower corner of a studding sail to the boom.

To seize; to lay hold of; to grapple; as, a wrestler tackles his antagonist; a dog tackles the game. The greatest poetess of our day has wasted her time and strength in tackling windmills under conditions the most fitted to insure her defeat. Dublin Univ. Mag.

One who holds a tack or lease from another; a tenant, or lessee. Sir W. Scott. The tacksmen, who formed what may be called the "peerage" of the little community, must be the captains. Macaulay.

To hold by the end; -- said of a timber when it rests upon a wall or other support; -- with in or into.

In an active sense; To lay hold of; to seize with the hands, or otherwise; to grasp; to get into one's hold or possession; to procure; to seize and carry away; to convey. Hence, specifically: --

commonly circular, and somewhat resembling a tambourine, used for stretching, and firmly holding, a portion of cloth that is to be embroidered; also, the embroidery done upon such a frame; -- called also, in the latter sense, tambour work.

A measuring pot holding one quart (according to some, three quarts); -- so called from a knob on the lid, though to resemble a crested hen. [Scot.] Jamieson.