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.

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#*(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.

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#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

To bend (any thin material, such as paper) over so that it comes in contact with itself.

To make the proper arrangement (in a thin material) by bending.

If you fold the sheets, they'll fit more easily in the drawer.

To become folded; to form folds.

Cardboard doesn't fold very easily.

(informal) To fall over; to be crushed.

The chair folded under his enormous weight.

To enclose within folded arms (see also enfold).

* 1897 , (Bram Stoker), Chapter 21

He put out his arms and folded her to his breast. And for a while she lay there sobbing. He looked at us over her bowed head, with eyes that blinked damply above his quivering nostrils. His mouth was set as steel.

To give way on a point or in an argument.

(poker) To withdraw from betting.

With no hearts in the river and no chance to hit his straight, he folded .

(cooking) To stir gently, with a folding action.

Fold the egg whites into the batter.

(business) Of a company, to cease to trade.

The company folded after six quarters of negative growth.

To double or lay together, as the arms or the hands.

He folded his arms in defiance.

To cover or wrap up; to conceal.

* Shakespeare

Nor fold my fault in cleanly coined excuses.

Verb

(en verb)

To confine sheep in a fold.

The star that bids the shepherd fold — Milton.