Verb

(lb) To grasp or grip.

:

*

*:But then I had the flintlock by me for protection. ¶ There were giants in the days when that gun was made; for surely no modern mortal could have held that mass of metal steady to his shoulder. The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window.

*, chapter=23

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.}}

*{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author=(Henry Petroski)

, magazine=(American Scientist), title= The Evolution of Eyeglasses , passage=The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone,

(lb) To contain or store.

:

(lb) To maintain or keep to a position or state.

#(lb) To have and keep possession of something.

#:

#*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 14, author=Angelique Chrisafis

, title=Rachida Dati accuses French PM of sexism and elitism, work=Guardian citation , passage=She was Nicolas Sarkozy's pin-up for diversity, the first Muslim woman with north African parents to hold a major French government post. But Rachida Dati has now turned on her own party elite with such ferocity that some have suggested she should be expelled from the president's ruling party.}}

#(lb) To reserve.

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#(lb) To cause to wait or delay.

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#(lb) To detain.

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#(lb) To be or remain valid; to apply.

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#*(John Locke) (1632-1705)

#*:The rule holds in land as all other commodities.

#To keep oneself in a particular state.

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#*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)

, chapter=2 citation , passage=Mother

#(lb) To impose restraint upon; to limit in motion or action; to bind legally or morally; to confine; to restrain.

#*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

#*:We cannot hold mortality's strong hand.

#*(Richard Crashaw) (1613-1649)

#*:Death! what do'st? O, hold thy blow.

#* (1800-1859)

#*:He hath not sufficient judgment and self-command to hold his tongue.

#(lb) To bear, carry, or manage.

#:

#*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

#*:Let him hold his fingers thus.

# Not to move; to halt; to stop.

#*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

#*:And damned be him that first cries, "Hold , enough!"

#(lb) Not to give way; not to part or become separated; to remain unbroken or unsubdued.

#*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

#*:Our force by land hath nobly held .

# To remain ; to control an excretory bodily function.

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(lb) To maintain or keep to particular opinions, promises, actions.

#(lb) To maintain, to consider, to opine.

#*1776 , (Thomas Jefferson) et al.'', ''(United States Declaration of Independence) :

#*:We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

#*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned. But he had then none of the oddities and mannerisms which I hold to be inseparable from genius, and which struck my attention in after days when I came in contact with the Celebrity.}}

#(lb) To bind (someone) to a consequence of his or her actions.

#:

#To maintain in being or action; to carry on; to prosecute, as a course of conduct or an argument; to continue; to sustain.

#*Bible, (Psalms) lxxxiii.1:

#*:Hold not thy peace, and be not still.

#*(John Milton) (1608-1674)

#*:Seedtime and harvest, heat and hoary frost, / Shall hold their course.

#To accept, as an opinion; to be the adherent of, openly or privately; to persist in, as a purpose; to maintain; to sustain.

#*Bible, ii.15:

#*:Stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught.

#*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)

#*:But still he held his purpose to depart.

#(lb) To restrain oneself; to refrain; to hold back.

#*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)

#*:His dauntless heart would fain have held / From weeping, but his eyes rebelled.

To win one's own service game.

To organise an event or meeting (usually in passive voice).

:

*, chapter=5

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held , one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.}}

(lb) To derive right or title.

*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)

*:My crown is absolute, and holds of none.

*1817 , (William Hazlitt), ''

*:His imagination holds immediately from nature.

Verb

(auxiliary)

(auxiliary)

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=“Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.}}

(auxiliary)

* , chapter=7

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=“I don't know how you and the ‘head,’ as you call him, will get on, but I do know that if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it. […]”}}

(auxiliary)

To perform; to execute.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)

, volume=189, issue=2, page=48, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= The tao of tech , passage=The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing ",

(obsolete) To cause, make (someone) (do something).

* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), ''(The Faerie Queene), II.vi:

Sometimes to doe him laugh, she would assay / To laugh at shaking of the leaues light, / Or to behold the water worke

* W. Caxton

My lord Abbot of Westminster did do shewe to me late certain evidences.

* Spenser

a fatal plague which many did to die

* Bible, 2 Cor. viii. 1

We do you to wit [i.e. we make you to know] of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia.

(transitive) To suffice.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=“Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance, Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.}}

* 1922 , (Margery Williams), (The Velveteen Rabbit)

"Here," she said, "take your old Bunny! He'll do to sleep with you!" And she dragged the Rabbit out by one ear, and put him into the Boy's arms.

To be reasonable or acceptable.

To have (as an effect).

To fare; to succeed or fail.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Welcome to the plastisphere , passage=Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.}}

(chiefly in questions) To have as one's job.

To cook.

* , Three Men In a Boat

, passage=It seemed, from his account, that he was very good at doing scrambled eggs.}}

* {{quote-news, 1944, , , News from the Suburbs, Punch citation

, passage=We went down below, and the galley-slave did some ham and eggs, and the first lieutenant, who was aged 19, told me about Sicily, and time went like a flash.}}

* {{quote-book, 2005, Alan Tansley, The Grease Monkey, page=99, pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=V63jCdQpv2kC&pg=PA99

, passage=Next morning, they woke about ten o'clock, Kev, went for a shower while Alice, did some toast, put the kettle on, and when he came out, she went in.}}

To travel in, to tour, to make a circuit of.

* {{quote-book, 1869, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, edition=1957 ed., page=, pageurl=

, passage=We 'did ' London to our heart's content, thanks to Fred and Frank, and were sorry to go away,

* {{quote-book, 1892, James Batchelder, Multum in Parvo: Notes from the Life and Travels of James Batchelder, page=97 citation

, passage=After doing Paris and its suburbs, I started for London

* {{quote-news, 1968, July 22, Ralph Schoenstein, Nice Place to Visit, New York Magazine citation

, passage=No tourist can get credit for seeing America first without doing New York, the Wonderful Town, the Baghdad-on-Hudson, the dream in the eye of the Kansas hooker

To treat in a certain way.

* {{quote-news, 1894, , , , Harper's citation

, passage=They did me well, I assure you — uncommon well: Bellinger of '84; green chartreuse fit for a prince;

* 1928 , , "The Abominable History of the Man with Copper Fingers", in (Lord Peter Views the Body) ,

Upon my word, although he [my host] certainly did me uncommonly well, I began to feel I'd be more at ease among the bushmen.

* {{quote-book, 1994, Jervey Tervalon, Understand This, page=50 citation

, passage="Why you gonna do me like that?" I ask. "Do what?" "Dog me."}}

To act or behave in a certain manner; to conduct oneself.

* Bible, 2 Kings xvii. 34

They fear not the Lord, neither do they after the law and commandment.

To spend (time) in jail.

To impersonate or depict.

(slang) To kill.

* '>citation

* {{quote-book, 2007, E.J. Churchill, page=153, pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=ytW6LcwIrXQC&pg=PA153, The Lazarus Code

, passage=The order came and I did him right there. The bullet went right where it was supposed to go.}}

(slang) To have sex with. (See also do it )

* {{quote-book, c. 1590, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, section=Act IV, scene II, pageurl=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Tragedy_of_Titus_Andronicus

, passage=Demetrius'': "Villain, what hast thou done?"
''Aaron'': "That which thou canst not undo."
''Chiron'': "Thou hast undone our mother."
''Aaron : "Villain, I have done thy mother."}}

* {{quote-book, 1996, James Russell Kincaid, My Secret Life, page=81, pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=q2cQiUtWftwC&pg=PA82

, passage=

* {{quote-book, 2008, On the Line, Donna Hill, page=84 citation

, passage=The uninhibited woman within wanted to do him right there on the countertop, but I remained composed.}}

To cheat or swindle.

* De Quincey

He was not to be done , at his time of life, by frivolous offers of a compromise that might have secured him seventy-five per cent.

To convert into a certain form; especially, to translate.

(intransitive) To finish.

(UK, dated, intransitive) To work as a domestic servant (with for ).

* 1915 , Frank Thomas Bullen, Recollections

I've left my key in my office in Manchester, my family are at Bournemouth, and the old woman who does for me goes home at nine o'clock.

(archaic, dialectal, transitive, auxiliary) Used to form the present progressive of verbs.

* 1844 , William Barnes, Evenén in the Village , Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect:

...An' the dogs do''' bark, an' the rooks be a-vled to the elems high and dark, an' the water '''do roar at mill.

(stock exchange) To cash or to advance money for, as a bill or note.

(informal) To make or provide.

Do they do haircuts there?

Could you do me a burger with mayonnaise instead of ketchup?