holen.

Brit.

/həʊl/, U.S.

/hoʊl/

Forms: Old English–Middle English hol, Middle English– hole; also Middle English–1500s hoole, Scottish hoill, hoil(e, 1500s hooll(e, whole, 1500s–1600s hoale, 1700s–1800s Yorkshire dialect hoil.

Etymology: Old English hol neuter, inflected hol-e , hol-es , hol-u , a hollow place = Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old High German (Middle High German, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch, Dutch) hol (German hohl ), originally neuter of hol , holl adj., hollow. Also apparently representing Old English holh , hollow n., in its inflected forms hol-e, hol-es, (?) hol-u, which fall together with the corresponding forms of hol. (The Old English hole, holu, holum, usually referred to hol, may equally well belong to holh: see Sievers Ags. Gram. (ed. 3) §242, Anm. 3, 4; and compare inflection of healh, sealh, wealh.)The uninflected hol retained short o in Middle English, and was normally written holl n. (compare Old English sceal , smæl , Middle English shall , small ); but in the inflected forms ho-le , ho-les , etc. (whether < hol or holh ), the o in open syllable was normally lengthened, giving Middle English and modern hōle , hōles . (In modern English, short o is further lengthened before ll , giving modern dialect hōll (not distinguishable fromhōle ); in Scottish -ōll becomes -ow , -owe , giving how , howe n., ‘hollow’.) Old English holh , like other words in -lh , -rh , was susceptible of twofold inflection, (1) with loss of h , hole , etc., (2) with consonant-ablaut, holȝe , holwe , etc. The former, as said above, fell together with the inflected forms of hol ; the latter gave rise to Middle English holwe , holewe , hollow n., hollow adj. and adv. The development may be thus shown: Old Englishholuninfl.holMiddle Englishhŏllmodern (dialect)hōll,Scottishhow(e.Old Englishholinflectedhol-eMiddle Englishholemodernhole.Old Englishholhinflectedhol-eMiddle Englishholemodernhole.Old Englishholhinflectedholw-eMiddle Englishholwemodernhollow The senses, to a great extent, coincide or overlap; holl, adjective and noun, Scottish how(e, are, in use, the northern equivalents of hollow; hole, noun, has all the senses of holl (howe), noun and hollow, noun, with a fuller development of its own. In the 15–16th cent. Scottish spelling hoill, oi is merely the graphic form of ō; but in modern Yorkshire hoil, the oi is diphthongal.

I. A hollow place, cavity, excavation, etc.

a. A hollow place or cavity in a solid body; a pit, cave, den, hiding place in the earth; a deep place in a stream, pond, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > land > landscape > low land > hole or pit > [noun]

dalea800

piteOE

dike847

hollowc897

hole946

seathc950

delfOE

hollc1050

ditchc1275

lakec1320

holetc1380

slacka1500

dell1531

vault1535

pit-hole1583

delve1590

lough1672

sinusa1676

gap1696

self-lough1700

scoop1780

cup1819

946 Charter Edmund in Kemble Cod. Dipl. III. 423 To þam ealdan hole; of ðam hole.

a1000 Boeth. Metr. ii. 21 Me þas woruld sælða..on þis dimme hol dysine forlæddon.

c1000 Ags. Ps. (1835) ix. 29 [x. 9] And settað his digollice, swa swa leo deð of his hole.

a1225 St. Marher. 10 He..weneð for to beoren me in to his balefule hole.

c1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 85/75 In þe north-side of þe toun in one olde roche he was. He lai and darede out of is hole.

a1400–50 Alexander 4050 Haue ȝe na houses ne na hames, ne holis in to bery?

14.. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 722/35 Hec crupta, a hol in the erthe.

c1400 (?c1380) Patience l. 306 Out of þe hole þou me herde.

c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 243/1 Hoole, or pyt yn an hylle, or other lyke (S. hole, or eryth), caverna.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. cxcj Whiche..hid themselfes and lurked in dennes and wholes.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. cxxxiiij^v With their swordes digged holes in the banke to clyme vp.

1571 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xxvi. 23 Ȝour fais wist not in what hoil yame to hyde.

a1605 A. Montgomerie Sonnets (1887) xxii. 11 Ȝe sall not haif ane hoill ȝour heids to hyde.

1653 I. Walton Compl. Angler ii. 52 Go to the same hole, where..you will finde floting neer the top of the water, at least a dozen or twenty Chubs.

1657 R. Ligon True Hist. Barbados 41 Great Rocks..so soft, as with your finger you may bore a hole into it.

1756 T. Hale et al. Compl. Body Husbandry iii. xix. 122 Digging a Hole in the Ground.

1826 W. Scott Woodstock III. x. 302 The head..dinted a hole in the soil of six inches in depth.

1883 J. G. Wood in Sunday Mag. Nov. 676/2 All rivers have some portions deeper than others, ‘holes’ as we call them.

b. An excavation made in the ground for habitation by an animal, as the fox or badger; a burrow.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > by habitat > habitat > [noun] > dwelling place or shelter > burrow

holec950

burrowa1375

dowera1398

earthc1450

anglec1720

pipe1738

tunnel1873

pig-hole1928

c950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke ix. 58 Foxas holas habbað [Rushw. G. Foxes holo habbas. Ags. G. Foxas habbað holu. Hatt. G. Foxas hæbbeð hole].

c1200 Vices & Virtues 101 Hie [naddre] haueð hire hol.

c1220 Bestiary 248 Of corn and of gres [ðe mire] haleð to hire hole.

1481 W. Caxton tr. Hist. Reynard Fox (1970) 13 Reynart..wente..in to his hole, for maleperduys was ful of hooles, hier one hool and there an other.

1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xix. 669 The fox..Lukit about sum hoill to se.

1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 120 The Viper dead, within her Hole is found.

1729 J. Swift Let. to Ld. Bolingbroke 21 Mar. To have done with the world..if I could get into a better..and not die here in a rage, like a poisoned rat in a hole.

1792 W. Osbaldiston Brit. Sportsman 40 If you intend to dig the badger out of his hole.

1885 Leisure Hour June 401 A snake-charmer's music inducing a large cobra to leave its hole.

c. A deep hollow or cavity in the surface of the body; e.g. an eye-socket. Cf. armhole n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > indentation or cavity > [noun] > depression or cavity

pita1275

holec1300

cella1398

den1398

follicle?a1425

purse?a1425

pocketa1450

fossac1475

cystis1543

trench1565

conceptory1576

vesike1577

vesicle1578

vault1594

socket1601

bladderet1615

cistern1615

cavern1626

ventricle1641

bladder1661

antrum1684

conceptaculum1691

capsule1693

cellule1694

loculus1694

sinus1704

vesicula1705

vesica1706

fosse1710

pouch1712

cyst1721

air chamber1725

fossula1733

alveole1739

sac1741

sacculus1749

locule1751

compartment1772

air cell1774

fossule1803

umbilicus1811

conceptacle1819

cœlia1820

utricle1822

air sac1835

saccule1836

ampulla1845

vacuole1853

scrobicule1880

faveolus1882

c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 1813 Þat þe rith eye Vt of þe hole made he fleye.

14.. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 598/4 Nucha, the hole of the polle.

1483 Cath. Angl. 187/2 An Hole in y^e nek, frontinella.

?1533 G. Du Wes Introductorie for to lerne Frenche sig. Biv The holes vnder the armes, les esselles.

1656 R. Sanderson 20 Serm. 146 We might have waited till our eyes had sunk in their holes.

1739 J. Sparrow tr. H. F. Le Dran Observ. Surg. xiv. 53 That Part vulgarly called the Hole of the Neck.

2. transferred.

†a. A secret place, a hiding place; a secret room in which an unlawful occupation is pursued; a place where unlicensed printing was carried on.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > a secret place, hiding place > [noun]

hidelsc975

hidela1300

bushc1330

hulkc1330

derna1340

tapissinga1340

coverta1375

hiding1382

loting-placea1398

cover14..

hiding placec1440

mewa1450

closetc1450

hole1483

cure1502

secret1530

shrouding place1571

ivy-bush1576

coney burrowa1586

hidlings1597

foxhole1606

shrouding corner1610

recess1611

subterfuge1616

latibule1623

latebra1626

blind1646

privacy1648

hide1649

retreat1697

rathole1770

hidey-hole1817

tod hole1846

hulster1880

hideout1885

cwtch1890

castle1898

lurk1906

stash1927

hideaway1930

society > communication > printing > printing trade > [noun] > printing establishment > place of unlicensed printing

hole1683

1483 Cath. Angl. 187/2 An Hole, latebra, latibulum.

1660 S. Pepys Diary 23 May (1970) I. 156 At a Catholique house, he was fain to lie in the priests hole a good while.

1683 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises II. Dict. 380 Many Printers for Lucre of Gain have gone into Holes, and then their chief care is to get a Hole Private, and Workmen Trusty and Cunning to conceal the Hole, and themselves.

1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 122/1 Holes, in Printing dialect is a place where privat Printing is used, viz. the printing of unlicensed Books or other Men's Coppies.

b. A dungeon or prison-cell; spec. the name of one of the worst apartments in the Counter prison in Wood street, London. Cf. black hole n. Now usually the cell used for solitary confinement, and hence solitary confinement itself.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > prison > [noun] > cell

houseOE

cabinc1522

hole1535

lodging1612

hold1717

cell1728

lock-up room1775

glory-hole1825

box1834

drum1846

sweat-box1870

booby-hutch1889

Peter1890

booby1899

boob1908

flowery dell1925

slot1947

1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 1017 Wee haue gart bind him with ane poill, And send him to the theifis hoill.

1607 T. Heywood Woman Kilde with Kindnesse sig. E2 He is denied the freedome of the prison, And in the hole is laid with men condemnd.

1607 ‘W. S.’ Puritaine iii. F But if ere wee clutch him againe, the Counter shall charm him. Rav. The hole shall rotte him.

1666 S. Pepys Diary 2 July (1972) VII. 191 He was clapped up in the Hole.

1688 P. Cook in R. L'Estrange Brief Hist. Times III. 78 In the Place call'd the Condemn'd Hole.

1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 171 The poor Fellow..is in your Condemn'd Hole.

1822 R. Nares Gloss. (at cited word) We still hear of the condemned hole in Newgate.

1912 D. Lowrie My Life in Prison iv. 39 ‘It's a case of spending the night at the springs if you're not at your cell for the count.’ In answer to my hurried inquiry about ‘the springs’ he informed me that he referred to ‘the hole’.

1927 Amer. Speech 2 282/1 Hole, dungeon or place for solitary confinement.

1935 N. Ersine Underworld & Prison Slang 45 Hole,..the solitary confinement cells of a prison. ‘Smitty just got tossed in the hole.’

1955 W. Gaddis Recognitions ii. v. 488 He had..spent a fair amount of time in solitary confinement (‘the hole’, as it was called).

1970 G. Jackson Let. 25 Mar. in Soledad Brother (1971) 197 They're out of the hole (isolation) already.

c. A small dingy lodging or abode; a small or mean habitation; an unpleasant place of abode; a term of contempt or depreciation for any place.

ΘΚΠ

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > a dwelling > other types of dwelling > [noun] > vile or miserable

hell-holec1400

dogholec1450

cabin1594

sty1605

hole1616

hogsty1688

gourbi1738

rathole1770

pigsty1798

hell's kitchen1827

den1836

kennel1837

pigpen1872

rural slum1886

1616 W. Haig Let. 2 Aug. in J. Russell Haigs of Bemersyde (1881) vii. 156 Being innocent, it is a pity to smother me in this loath~some hole.

1693 J. Dryden in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires xiv. 290 How much more Happy thou, that art content To live within this little Hole, than I Who after Empire, that vain Quarry, fly.

1726 G. Leoni Alcuni Disegni di Edificj: Some Designs for Buildings Pref. 1/2 You expect a stately Palace, where you find nothing but an ill-contrived Hole.

1836 T. Hook Gilbert Gurney III. 127 This house..to me the horridest hole I ever was in.

1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda II. iii. xxv. 138 Grandcourt..pronounced that resort of fashion a beastly hole worse than Baden.

1889 ‘J. S. Winter’ Mrs. Bob (1891) 3 Two hundred a year for a little hole I could not get my piano into.

d. A shilling. slang.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > English coins > [noun] > shilling

s.1387

solidus?a1475

shilling1533

teston1543

twelvepence1563

bord1567

twelvepenny piece1594

sh.1607

hog1673

twelver1699

she-lion1744

grunter1785

twalpenny worth1786

bob1789

pega1790

tower shilling1800

little shilling1826

deaner1839

rogue and villain1857

stag1857

hole1934

1934 P. Allingham Cheapjack iv. 38 A penny is a ‘clod’, and ‘sprasy’ means sixpence. A shilling is also a ‘hole’, and a two-shilling piece is a ‘two-ender’.

1939 J. B. Priestley Let People Sing x. 256 Knocker brought out some money and examined it. ‘..A nicker, half a bar, a caser an' a hole.’

3. figurative. A position from which it is difficult to escape; a fix, scrape, mess.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > difficulty > [noun] > difficult state of things > predicament or straits

needfulnessc1350

kankedortc1374

pressc1375

needfultya1382

briguec1400

brikec1400

plightc1400

taking?c1425

partyc1440

distrait1477

brakea1529

hot water1537

strait1544

extremes1547

pickle1562

praemunire1595

lock1598

angustiae1653

difficulty1667

scrape1709

premune1758

hole1760

Queer Street1811

warm water1813

strift1815

fix1816

plisky1818

snapper1818

amplush1827

false position1830

bind1851

jackpot1887

tight1896

squeeze1905

jam1914

1760 C. Johnstone Chrysal (1764) I. ii. vii. 132 I should take great pleasure in serving you, and getting you out of this hole.

1762 T. Smollett Adventures Sir Launcelot Greaves II. xvi. 77 I should be in a deadly hole myself, if all my customers should take it in their heads to drink nothing but water-gruel.

a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Hole, a scrape..A man gets himself into a hole by taking a wrong step.

1867 ‘Ouida’ Under Two Flags i. 9 I'm in a hole—no end of a hole—and I thought you'd help me.

1925 P. G. Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves iv. 81 ‘Mr Bickersteth is in a hole, Jeeves,..and wants you to rally round.’ ‘Very good, sir.’

1937 A. Christie Murder in Mews 218 Lawyers, even the most respectable, have been known to embezzle their client's money when they themselves are in a hole.

1970 G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard v. 154 Too bad if he has, I'll be in a great big hole.

4. technical.

a. A hemispherical cavity into which a ball or marbles are to be got in various games; esp. one of those into which the ball is driven at golf; hence, a point scored by the player who drives his ball from one hole to another with the fewest strokes. spec. one of the (usually nine or eighteen) strips of land on a golf-course, consisting of a tee, fairway (and bordering rough), green and hole (sense 4a), over which a golfer plays his ball; the play which takes place between teeing off and holing the ball; hole in one, the driving of the ball from the tee into the hole with only one stroke. Also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > [noun] > area for play > hole

hole1583

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > golf course > [noun] > hole for ball

hole1808–18

dogleg hole1909

dogleg1911

one-shotter1922

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > golf course > [noun] > section of

hole1874

blind hole1900

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > [noun] > scoring

half1881

par1887

bird1906

birdie1906

eagle1909

double eagle1925

albatross1932

hole in one1935

bogey1946

double bogey1954

1583 C. Hollyband Campo di Fior 129 We will playe at pit hole for nuttes. We will make a pitte hole, and there cast our nuttes.

1808–18 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. at Golf A game in Scotland, in which hooked clubs are used for striking balls, stuffed very hard with feathers, from one hole to another.

1874 J. Blackwood Let. 4 Aug. in ‘G. Eliot’ Lett. (1956) VI. 74 When we were a few holes out he exclaimed fervently, ‘This is a great, glorious, and noble game.’

1887 J. L. Stewart Golfiana Miscellanea 100 The hole is won by the side holing at fewest strokes.

1890 Ld. Wellwood in H. G. Hutchinson et al. Golf (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) 43 You are playing a match of, say, eighteen holes, and have reached the putting-green of the last hole.

1891 H. G. Hutchinson Famous Golf Links 90 Point Garry is a long, hazardous hole.

1891 H. G. Hutchinson Famous Golf Links 156 The third hole (135 yards) is an exact counterpart of the second.

1893 J. M. Barrie & A. Conan Doyle Jane Annie ii. 41 I gives in! You have my word of honour! It's your hole.

1896 W. Park Game of Golf 5 The size of the holes, as fixed by the laws of the game, is four and a quarter inches in diameter.

1908 J. Braid Advanced Golf 252 Holes of about 360 to 380 yards.

1935 Graves & Longhurst Candid Caddies 28 There are all kinds of variants on the ‘hole in one’ story where the player has achieved this feat with a club other than the one selected by the caddie.

1971 Daily Tel. 12 June 1/5 (heading) Golfer gets two holes in one.

1971 Daily Tel. 12 June 1/5 Successive holes in one have been done only twice before in Britain.

1972 I. Stuart Golf in Hertfordshire 67 There are six par-three holes, all of them fair and only one over 200 yards.

1973 Country Life 17 May 1369/3 The final rounds of a 72-hole event.

b. Billiards. = pocket n. and adj.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > billiards, pool, or snooker > [noun] > table > pocket

hazard1598

hole1688

pocket1744

1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 262/2 The Holes in the four corners and sides of the..Billiard Table.

1725 Cotton's Compl. Gamester (new ed.) 151 At the four Corners of the [Billiard] Table there are Holes, and at each side exactly in the Middle, one, which are called Hazards.

1778 T. Jones Hoyle's Games Improved 191 He that stops either Ball, when running, loses one; and if near the Hole, loses two.

†c. The narrow closed part or bag at the lower end of a trawl-net or other fishing net: = cod n.¹ 5.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > net > [noun] > bag at end of net

cod1485

bunt1602

hole1630

hose1630

purse1821

cod end1855

pocket1869

pit1883

1630 Order in R. Griffiths Ess. Jurisdict. Thames (1746) 72 The third Part, which is the Hole or Cod, Inch and Quarter wet and dry.

d. Chess. (See quots.)

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > board game > chess > [noun] > chessboard > square > specific squares

four pointsc1450

black1474

white1474

hole1894

queening square1918

1894 J. Mason Princ. Chess i. 24 Hole, a square on the third or fourth rank, neither commanded, nor liable to be commanded, by any friendly Pawn.

1895 H. E. Bird Chess Novelties 115 KBP was followed by QP2, leaving at once a landing square (a nasty hole Steinitz would call it) for opponent's pieces.

1922 Brit. Chess Mag. Feb. 105/2 The net result of the two moves is to create a hole at White's Q Kt 4.

1955 Chess (‘Know the Game' Series) 26/1 Another example of weakness in the pawn-formation is that of ‘holes’ or ‘fore-posts’ which may be occupied successfully by an opposing piece.

1968 O. Hindle Further Steps in Chess iv. 49 Holes..are squares which the defender can no longer protect with his pawns. They are thus ideal posts for attacking pieces, which can settle on them without fear of being easily driven off.

e. Eton Fives. A small square portion of the floor enclosed by the pepper-box and step. to be in holes; hence attributive in holes innings.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > handball, etc. > [noun] > fives > court > parts of

pepperbox1865

step1890

hole1897

1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 399 A, who begins serving, is bound to give C—who is said to be ‘in holes’—the sort of service which he prefers.

1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 400 All alike differ from Eton Courts in having no pepper-box, hole, or step.

1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 402 In the first innings of a game A (who goes in first) is said to have ‘holes innings’, i.e., when both A and B have been put out, A will be ‘in holes’.

f. Physics. A position from which an electron is absent: originally a concept in the theory of the positron, now esp. a position in a semiconductor which may be regarded as a mobile carrier of a positive charge. Also attributive and in other combinations.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > solid state physics > semiconductivity > [noun] > carrier of charges > mobile carrier

hole1930

the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > particle avoiding strong interaction > electron > [noun] > positive electron > position of absent electron

hole1930

1930 P. A. M. Dirac in Proc. Royal Soc. A. 126 362 Only the small departures from exact uniformity, brought about by some of the negative-energy states being unoccupied, can we hope to observe. Let us examine the properties of the vacant states or ‘holes’.

1933 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 139 714 The few states which are unoccupied behave like ordinary particles with positive kinetic energy and with a positive charge. Dirac originally wished to identify these ‘holes’ with protons, but this had to be abandoned when it was found that the holes necessarily have the same mass as negative electrons.

1934 P. A. M. Dirac in Proc. Cambr. Philos. Soc. 30 150 Any unoccupied negative-energy states would be observable to us, as holes in the distribution of negative-energy electrons, but these holes would appear as particles with positive kinetic energy... It seems reasonable..to identify these holes with the recently discovered positrons.

1936 W. Heitler Quantum Theory Radiation 188 Thus..positive electrons are represented as holes in the distribution of electrons filling up the negative energy states.

1940 Nature 29 June 998/2 It is suggested..that in cuprous oxide the vacant lattice points and the points from which an electron is missing (positive holes) are dissociated.

1948 Physical Rev. 74 230/2 As a result, the current in the forward direction with respect to the block is composed in large part of holes, i.e., of carriers of sign opposite to those normally in excess in the body of the block.

1949 Physical Rev. 75 865/2 The ionization energy of donors is less than that of acceptors, probably because conduction electrons have a smaller effective mass than holes.

1954 Electronic Engin. 26 34 Positive charge carriers known as ‘holes’... These holes are thought to have different mean life-times and mobilities in different diodes.

1957 Electronic Engin. 29 3 As all transistors have a finite base width all transistors must show hole storage effects due to the time taken for holes to cross the base from emitter to collector.

1962 J. H. Simpson & R. S. Richards Physical Princ. Junction Transistors ii. 32 Also, because impurities or defects that trap electrons may have characteristics quite different from those of their hole-trapping counterparts, the lifetime of minority carriers may be quite different in p-type and n-type materials of similar quality.

1966 New Scientist 11 Aug. 317/3 Travel is limited to the distance covered before electron and hole annihilate one another.

5. U.S. regional.

a. An indentation or opening in the coast; a small bay, a cove.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > land > land mass > shore or bank > bend in coast > [noun] > bay or gulf > small

hopec1425

docka1552

cove1590

hole1639

baylet1826

keyhole1851

porth1860

covelet1876

gunk-hole1908

1639 in Virginia Hist. Mag. (1895) 3 31 Yf the shipps be p'mitted to goe at pleasure and ride in every hole as is desired by them.

1748 H. Ellis Voy. Hudson's-Bay 149 This [flag] was to be raised at a good anchoring place called Five-Fathom Hole.

1807 C. W. Janson Stranger in Amer. 390 Tobacco is..conveyed then down the river to Hobbs' Hole, where ships in the European trade lie ready to receive them.

Categories »

b. A grassy valley surrounded by mountains.

6. = holl n., hold n.² of a ship.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > bottom or part under water > [noun] > hold

bosomOE

hole1483

holl1488

howe1513

hold1591

1483 Cath. Angl. 187/2 An Hole,..columbar est nauis.

1678 A. Marvell Acct. Growth Popery (new ed.) 11 The Hole of some Amsterdam Fly-boat.

1882 G. S. Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 97 Abaft the main hole.

II. A perforation, and connected senses.

a. An aperture passing through anything; a perforation, opening.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > an opening or aperture > [noun]

holec725

thirla900

eyeOE

opena1200

opening?c1225

overturec1400

overta1425

wideness?c1425

howe1487

hiatus1563

vent1594

apertion1599

ferme1612

notch1615

sluice1648

gape1658

aperture1661

want1664

door1665

hiulcitya1681

to pass through the eye of a needle (also a needle's eye)1720

vista1727

light1776

ope1832

lacuna1872

doughnut hole1886

c725 Corpus Gloss. 1900 Spiramentum, hol.

c1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 201 We..cumeð to þe stone, þe haueð fif hole narewe, þat is..his holie fif wunden.

c1290 Beket 1144 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 139 Þoruȝ þe churche he made an hol.

14.. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 627/12 Þe hoole of a prevay, gumphus.

c1480 (a1400) St. Ninian 505 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 318 Ane alde coble þare he fand, þat mony hoilis in it had.

c1540 (?a1400) Destr. Troy 13501 Hit happit hym in hast the hoole for to fynd Of the cave.

?1567 Merie Tales Master Skelton sig. Ci What shall those hoales serue for?..holes to looke out to see thy enemyes.

1674 tr. P. M. de la Martinière New Voy. Northern Countries 85 A top the House..there is a hole or window left for light to come in.

1687 London Gaz. No. 2218/4 A new fashionable Suit..gold frost Buttons, and gold Holes.

1773 J. Hawkesworth Acct. Voy. Southern Hemisphere II. ii. iv. 332 A musket was fired..which fortunately struck the boat..and made two holes in her side.

1896 Times 16 Dec. 5/2 The service bullet was found to have drilled clean holes, and..the hole of exit was little, if any, larger than the hole of entry.

figurative.1611 M. Smith in Bible (King James) Transl. Pref. 1 If there be any hole left for cauill to enter.

b. hole in the wall, (an originally disparaging term for) any small, obscure place; spec. in the U.S., a place where alcoholic drinks are sold illegally. Applied, esp. attributive, to a business that is very small, mean, dingy, or the like, or to a person running such a business.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > wretchedness > [adjective]

unledeeOE

sorryOE

evila1131

usellc1175

wanlichec1275

bad1276

sorry1372

meana1375

caitiff1393

loddera1400

woefula1400

foulc1400

wretched1450

meschant?1473

unselc1480

peevisha1522

miser1542

scurvy?1577

forlorn1582

villainous1582

measled1596

lamented1611

thrallfula1618

despicable1635

deplorable1642

so-and-so1656

poorish1657

squalida1660

lamentable1676

mesquina1706

shan1714

execrable1738

quisby1807

hole in the wall1822

measly1847

bum1878

shag-bag1888

snidey1890

pathetic1900

the world > space > place > [noun] > set apart or out of the way > small and obscure business premises

hole in the wall1822

the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > one who is unimportant > paltry, mean, or contemptible > types of

Lilliputian1726

hole in the wall1822

society > trade and finance > trading place > place where retail transactions made > [noun] > shop > shop selling liquor > unlicensed > specific illicit or illegal

poteen shop1834

blind-pig1887

hole in the wall1887

speakeasy1889

1822 W. Hazlitt in New Monthly Mag. 4 102 I had heard Mr. James Simpkins..when the character of the Hole in the Wall was brought in question, observe—‘The house is a very good house, and the company quite genteel.’

1856 Iroquois Republican (Middleport, Illinois) 25 Dec. 2/3 A ‘grocery’—a ‘doggery’ —a ‘hole-in-the-wall’—is an ‘odious damned spot’ in any community.

1870 C. Dickens Edwin Drood xviii. 142 The Gate House, of which..the Verger's hole in the wall was an appanage or subsidiary part.

1887 Minnesota Gen. Statutes Suppl. (1888) 248 Whoever shall attempt to evade or violate any of the laws of this state..by means of the artifice or contrivance known as the ‘Blind Pig’, or ‘Hole in the Wall’..shall..be punished.

1896 C. H. Shinn Story of Mine 51 Many lived in ‘dug-outs’, which they called ‘holes in the wall’.

1919 Detective Story Mag. 25 Nov. 129 He breakfasted at a hole-in-the-wall lunch room before starting out on his quest.

1923 D. Sells Brit. Trade Boards Syst. iv. ii. 259 The emphasis which reputable employers lay upon the benefit of Trade Boards in eliminating the ‘hole in the wall’ employer..from the field of industry, can hardly be overstated.

1940 F. Riesenberg Golden Gate 212 Craft that could go into the ‘holes in the wall’ along the ragged Pacific Coast.

1945 E. S. Gardner Case of Gold-digger's Purse (1948) xiii. 153 It's just a little place—just a little lunch counter. Sort of a hole in the wall.

1945 ‘L. Lewis’ Birthday Murder (1951) iii. 37 Sawn scorned..decadent play spots of the economically fortunate, and would insist on going to a hole in the wall infested by cockroaches, cocottes and cab drivers.

1951 C. W. Mills White Collar i. ii. 30 The hole-in-the-wall business, also known as a Mom-and-Pop store.

1953 W. R. Burnett Vanity Row viii. 60 A Bohemian section of the town..dotted with little..hole-in-the-wall cafés.

1958 Time 3 Feb. 23/1 To survive, most workers have to take second jobs, many of them in the innumerable hole-in-the-wall private enterprises that have sprung up.

1973 J. Goodfield Courier to Peking ix. 100 One of her favourite places was more a hole-in-the-wall than a shop.

c. in holes: perforated with holes, worn into holes. Also to go in (also into) holes.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > an opening or aperture > perforated with holes [phrase]

in holes1861

1861 H. Mayhew London Labour (new ed.) II. 470/2 I can't abide this muckydam [sc. macadam]..it's sloppy stuff, and goes so bad in holes.

1892 Cassell's Mag. July 469/2 His jerseys go into holes, and his flannels shrink.

1892 Field 15 Oct. 579/3 Sacks split or go in holes.

1926 A. Christie Murder of Roger Ackroyd x. 127 He wouldn't even buy new face towels, though I told him the old ones were in holes.

d. Aeronautics. hole in the air: an old name for an air-pocket (air n.¹ Compounds 1b(a)).

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > gas > air > [noun] > air above our heads > deep hollow in

gulf1712

bump1909

air pocket1910

hole in the air1911

pocket1911

society > travel > air or space travel > specific movements or positions of aircraft > air as medium for operation of aircraft > [noun] > air-pocket

air pocket1910

hole in the air1911

1911 G. C. Loening Monoplanes & Biplanes xiv. 305 The air is very variable, and even on a relatively calm day there are likely to be ‘holes in the air’.

1916 H. Barber Aeroplane Speaks 51 Now the Aeroplane is almost over the river, and the next instant it suddenly drops into a ‘hole in the air’.

1917 C. C. Turner Aircraft of To-day vi. 98 The terms ‘air-pocket’ and ‘hole in the air’ are frequently heard in flying circles.

e. colloquial hole in (the) heart: a congenital malformation of the heart in which there is an abnormal communication between the right and left sides.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > ill health > deformity > deformities of specific parts > [noun] > other deformities

eversion1567

exenteration1831

ankyloglossia1848

baker's knee1871

mal-insertion1904

malrotation1932

hole in (the) heart1958

1958 Hammersmith Post 25 July 1/4 (heading) Mother reassured over ‘hole in heart’ operation.

1958 Hammersmith Post 25 July 1/4 A seven-year-old boy..is due to have a ‘hole in heart’ operation.

1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Sept. 549/5 The author describes the operation for a septal defect—the condition popularly known as a ‘hole in the heart’.

1961 Listener 2 Nov. 693/1 The oxygenator took over the duties of heart and lung in the ‘hole-in-the-heart’ operation.

1966 Guardian 17 May 3/4 Oxygen 15..is being used..for the diagnosis of the hole-in-the-heart condition.

8. The orifice of any organ or part of the body. spec. (slang) The mouth, the anus, or the female external genital organs.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > indentation or cavity > [noun] > opening or hole

holea1400

vent1567

perforation1578

mouth1634

foramen1672

ostium1683

stoma1684

buttonhole1753

inlet1828

aditus1839

os1858

hiatus1886

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 528 (MED) Seuen holes [Vesp. thirls] haþ mannes heed euen.

c1400 Mandeville's Trav. (Roxb.) xxii. 100 Þai hafe in steed of þaire mouth a lytill hole.

1486 Bk. St. Albans B j b The Hoolis in the hawkes beke bene callede the Nares.

?a1500 Nominale (Yale Beinecke 594) in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 749/8 Hec arteria, the hole of the throt.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 232/1 Hole that swete or heres cometh out at, pore.

1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet ii. iii. 85 This driueling loue is like a great naturall, that runs vp and downe to hide his bable in a hole .

1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 283 There are seauen crosse ribbes in his Necke, and seuen from his raines to his hole.

1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 611 A Membrane where~with the hoale of the eare is stopped.

1687 A. Lovell tr. J. de Thévenot Trav. into Levant i. 117 The hole of the Nostril full round.

1719 in T. D'Urfey Wit & Mirth 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.

c1744 in Oxf. Dict. Nursery Rhymes (1951) 372 Little Robin red breast, Sitting on a pole, Niddle, Noddle, Went his head, And Poop went his Hole.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. xviii. [Penelope] 714 My hole is itching me.

1959 I. Opie & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolchildren iii. 49 Habitual grumblers in London's East End receive the poetic injunction: ‘Oo, shut yer moanin' 'ole’.

1966 L. Cohen Beautiful Losers (1970) i. 9 Don't give me this all diamond shit, shove it up your occult hole.

9. figurative. A flaw, fault, ground for blame. Usually in to pick a hole or holes in something; formerly also to find (pick, make) a hole in a person's coat.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > imperfection > [noun] > an imperfection > defect or fault or flaw

faultc1320

breckc1369

villainyc1400

offencec1425

defectc1450

defection1526

vitiosity1538

faintness1543

gall1545

eelist1549

mar1551

hole1553

blemish1555

wart1603

flaw1604

mulct1632

wound1646

failurea1656

misfeature1818

bug1875

out1886

1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique i. f. 53 The lawyers lacke no cases..Is his Lease long..Then (q^þ he) let me alone with it, I wil finde a hole in it.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) iii. vi. 85 If I finde a hole in his Coat, I will tell him my minde.

1648 M. Nedham Plea for King 21 Every ambitious popular person would be ready to pick holes in their Coates, to bring them into disfavour of the People.

1682 A. Wood Life & Times (1894) III. 4 If they did not appeare, there might some hole be picked in their charter.

1793 R. Burns Poems (ed. 2) II. 219 If there's a hole in a' your coats, I rede you tent it.

1871 D. M. Mulock Fair France i. 4 We do not go to visit a neighbour, in order to pick holes in him and his establishment.

1894 A. D. Godley Aspects Mod. Oxf. 93 Any one can pick holes in the University system of teaching and examination.

†10.

a. An old game in which balls were rolled through little cavities or arches; called also Pigeon-hole, Troll-madam, Trunks; (see also quot. 1816). Cf. nine holes n.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > bagatelle and similar games > [noun]

troll-madam1572

nine holes1573

pigeonholes1608

small trunksc1610

hole1611

trucks1671

roly-poly1707

Mississippi1728

bumble-puppy1794

bubble the justice1801

bagatelle1819

cockamaroo1850

pigs in clover1889

pinball1911

pinball game1911

Skee-Ball1923

Corinthian bagatelle1933

pachinko1949

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Trou Madame, the Game called Trunkes, or the Hole.

1816 Sporting Mag. 48 178 Another game called holes was occasionally played by a few of the boys... Three squares were cut in the earth, one within the other, in each side of which were three holes. [Etc.]

b. An old game of cards.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > other card games > [noun] > others

laugh and lie down1522

mack1548

decoyc1555

pinionc1557

to beat the knave out of doors1570

imperial1577

prima vista1587

loadum1591

flush1598

prime1598

thirty-perforce1599

gresco1605

hole1621

my sow's pigged1621

slam1621

fox-mine-host1622

whipperginnie1622

crimpa1637

hundred1636

pinache1641

sequence1653

lady's hole1658

quebas1668

art of memory1674

costly colours1674

penneech1674

plain dealing1674

wit and reason1680

comet1685

lansquenet1687

incertain1689

macham1689

uptails1694

quinze1714

hoc1730

commerce1732

matrimonya1743

tredrille1764

Tom come tickle me1769

tresette1785

snitch'ems1798

tontine1798

blind hazard1816

all fives1838

short cards1845

blind hookey1852

sixty-six1857

skin the lamb1864

brisque1870

handicap1870

manille1874

forty-five1875

slobberhannes1877

fifteen1884

Black Maria1885

slapjack1887

seven-and-a-half1895

pit1904

Russian Bank1915

red dog1919

fan-tan1923

Pelmanism1923

Slippery Sam1923

go fish1933

Russian Banker1937

racing demon1938

pit-a-pat1947

scopa1965

1621 J. Taylor Motto in Wks. (1630) 54/2 Ruffe, slam, Trump, noddy, whisk, hole, Sant, New-cut.

Phrases

to be in the hole U.S.: to be in (usually financial) difficulties (cf. 3). a hole in the head, esp. in to need (something) like a hole in the head (cf. Yiddish ich darf es vi a loch in kop): applied to something not desired at all or something useless. to make a hole (in anything): to use up, or cause the loss of, a considerable amount of anything; to create a loss. to make a hole in the water: see water n. Phrases 3a(c). a round peg (or man) in a square hole (and vice versa): one whose situation does not fit his special aptitudes. to pick a hole or holes in: see sense 9. to put in the hole (slang): to swindle, defraud. to take (something) a hole lower: to take down, humiliate, humble; cf. buttonhole n. Phrases.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > humility > make humble [verb (transitive)]

edmodienc1175

lowc1175

meekc1175

lessa1382

abatec1390

abasea1393

belowc1400

meekenc1400

disadvance?c1425

simplec1450

lowlyc1485

humilea1492

chasten1526

to pare the nails ofa1549

lessen1579

vail1582

to take (something) a hole lower1591

destate1615

humblea1616

thorough-humblea1617

humiliate1656

level1712

unnichea1751

to level up, down1791

unpedestal1821

to take the starch out of1830

the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > using up, expending, or consuming > use up, expend, or consume [verb (transitive)]

spend1297

usea1382

costa1400

consumea1527

to make a hole (in anything)1591

absorb1686

to use up1712

expend1745

to use off1812

to get through ——1833

to go through ——1949

the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > defrauding or swindling > perpetrate (a swindle) [verb (transitive)] > defraud or swindle

defraud1362

deceivec1380

plucka1500

lurch1530

defeata1538

souse1545

lick1548

wipe1549

fraud1563

use1564

cozen1573

nick1576

verse1591

rooka1595

trim1600

skelder1602

firk1604

dry-shave1620

fiddle1630

nose1637

foista1640

doa1642

sharka1650

chouse1654

burn1655

bilk1672

under-enter1692

sharp1699

stick1699

finger1709

roguea1714

fling1749

swindle1773

jink1777

queer1778

to do over1781

jump1789

mace1790

chisel1808

slang1812

bucket1819

to clean out1819

give it1819

to put in the hole1819

ramp1819

sting1819

victimize1839

financier1840

gum1840

snakea1861

to take down1865

verneuk1871

bunco1875

rush1875

gyp1879

salt1882

daddle1883

work1884

to have (one) on toast1886

slip1890

to do (a person) in the eye1891

sugar1892

flay1893

to give (someone) the rinky-dink1895

con1896

pad1897

screw1900

short-change1903

to do in1906

window dress1913

ream1914

twist1914

clean1915

rim1918

tweedle1925

hype1926

clip1927

take1927

gazump1928

yentz1930

promote1931

to take (someone) to the cleaners1932

to carve up1933

chizz1948

stiff1950

scam1963

to rip off1969

to stitch up1970

skunk1971

to steal (someone) blind1974

diddle-

the mind > possession > poverty > in impoverished state [phrase] > lacking money

out of cash1593

out of stock1648

stump1828

nary red1849

to be in the hole1890

the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > [noun] > that which is useless > typically

sick headache1915

a hole in the head1951

1591 J. Lyly Endimion iii. iii. sig. E3 Hee hath taken his thoughts a hole lower, and sayth..hee will vaile bonet to beautie.

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Humilié, humbled..taken a hole lower.

1617 F. Moryson Itinerary ii. 183 To lay five hundred of your best men on the earth, which losse will make a great hole in your Armie.

1625 C. Burges New Discouery Personal Tithes 75 It will make a greater hole in thy conscience, then it can in thine estate by parting with it.

1706 Mrs. Ray in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eminent Literary Men (1843) (Camden) 208 Mr. Ray did not leave £40 a year..out of which taxes, repairs, and quit-rent make a great hole.

1819 J. H. Vaux New Vocab. Flash Lang. in Mem. (1964) 243 To put a person in the hole, to defraud him of his due share of the booty by embezzling a part of the property, or the money, it is fenced for; this phrase also applies generally to defrauding anyone with whom you are confidentially connected of what is justly his due.

1833 Session Papers 3 Jan. 115/1 Miller..said they had put him in the hole, and he..would say where they were; by putting him in the hole, I understand they did not take the property away as he expected.

1887 Spectator 26 Mar. 412/2 An average daily consumption of four glasses..makes a hole in the income of the working class.

1890 Centralia (Washington) Chron. 18 Sept. 3/2 His failure leaves a number of our local dealers in the hole for amounts ranging from £200 down.

1893 L. W. Moore His Own Story xxi. 293 What was said at that time about his being ‘put in the hole’, I cannot say; but I do know he held me blameless, for none of the funds, except my own share, was ever in my possession.

a1895 Ld. C. E. Paget Autobiogr. (1896) iii. 72 The Admiralty would not rescind their orders, so we were a round man in a square hole, and vice versâ.

1897 Boston Jrnl. 12 Mar. 10/1 The sporting-man was $40 in the hole.

1916 Literary Digest 8 Jan. 87/1 The Wards were in the hole to the extent of close to $800,000.

1926 J. Black You can't Win ix. 104 I thought you put me in the hole for some coin, but I found out that the people lost just what you both said.

1939 P. G. Wodehouse Uncle Fred in Springtime iii. 45 How in the world did you manage to get in the hole for a sum like that?

1951 in M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 29/2 A smart operator needs a dame like he needs a hole in the head.

1951 J. D. Salinger Catcher in Rye xiv. 91 The Disciples..were about as much use to Him as a hole in the head.

1955 W. Gaddis Recognitions i. iii. 101 I need this drink like I need a hole in the head.

1971 D. Creed Trial of Lobo Icheka xiii. 133 He needed Petersen about as much as he needed a hole in the head.

Compounds

C1. General attributive. (In sense 4a.)

hole game n.

ΚΠ

1895 Westm. Gaz. 6 May 7/2 There is all the difference..between the stroke and the hole game [at golf], and at least a score of men have some chance.

hole play n.

ΚΠ

1889 W. T. Linskill Golf iii. 13 Besides ‘hole play’, which involves playing a succession of small matches from hole to hole round the links, there is also what is called ‘score play’.

C2.

hole-board n. (see quot.).

ΚΠ

1874 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. I. 599/2 The hole-board of the loom for fancy weaving. It is an upright board of the loom through which pass the neck-twines.

hole-creeper n. a sneaking thief.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > [noun] > who works by stealth

thief688

hole-creeper1462

stalker?a1513

sneak1785

creep1914

snooper1924

1462 in G. P. Scrope Hist. Castle Combe (1852) 323 Communis holecreppar anserum et porcellorum tenentium.

hole-man n. (see quot.).

ΚΠ

1861 H. Mayhew London Labour (new ed.) II. 447/1 The holeman, who goes into the cesspool.

hole-stitch n. (see quot.).

ΚΠ

1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward Dict. Needlework 253/2 Hole Stitch, a stitch used in Pillow Lace making, to form holes or small round spots in the centre of the thick parts of a pattern.

C3. Locative.

hole-breeder n.

ΚΠ

1889 F. A. Knight By Leafy Ways 155 The kingfisher, another hole~breeder.

hole-builder n.

ΚΠ

1891 Daily News 16 Feb. 5/1 Her eggs..are white, like those of most hole-builders.

hole-creeping adj. and n.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > [adjective] > stealing or inclined to > in sneaking manner

sheep-bitinga1616

hole-creeping1638

the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > [noun] > in sneaking manner

manticulation1623

sneak1699

hole-creeping1852

creep1928

1638 J. Ford Fancies iii. 40 The Page, that hole-creeping Page.

1852 G. P. Scrope Hist. Castle Combe 235 He qualified himself..by ‘hole-creeping’ after his neighbours' geese and pigs.

C4. Objective.

hole-cutter n.

ΚΠ

1897 Westm. Gaz. 9 Mar. 8/3 Drillers and hole-cutters.

hole-digger n.

ΚΠ

1876 W. H. Preece & J. Sivewright Telegraphy 188 To guide the hole-diggers in the event of the marks..having been removed.

hole-digging n.

ΚΠ

1876 W. H. Preece & J. Sivewright Telegraphy 189 Hole-digging..for a telegraph pole.

hole-picking n.

ΚΠ

1801 C. Gadsden in J. Adams' Wks. (1854) IX. 580 That his public actions may be judged of..without any captious hole~picking.

hole-piercing n.

hole-punched adj.

ΚΠ

1956 S. Bellow Seize the Day (1957) ii. 42 He put the hole-punched cards in his pocket.

hole-puncher n.

ΚΠ

1961 Lebende Sprachen 6 70/1 Hole puncher.

hole-stopper n.

ΚΠ

1794 J. Wolcot Wks. II. 85 A neighbouring town..Begg'd him to be their tinker—their hole-stopper.

C5.

hole-nesting adj.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > nest or bird defined by > [adjective] > that nests in hole

hole-nesting1938

1938 Brit. Birds 31 242 In the present experiments three hole-nesting species..were selected.

1953 N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World x. 94 Territory in the Herring Gull most certainly has nothing to do with the reservation of a nesting site..as it has in hole-nesting birds.

hole-card n. in stud poker, a card which has been dealt face down; also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > poker > [noun] > type of card

openers1889

kicker1892

hole-card1908

rag1978

river1978

1908 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 5 Dec. 19/2 Scarcely glancing at his hole card Phelps let him take the pot, and it became Phelps' deal.

1926 C. E. Mulford Bar 20 rides Again xxi. 282 Beginnin' with this hand I'm bettin' five hundred blind on th' hole-card, an' seein' if I can't bring this game to a finish.

1952 J. Steinbeck East of Eden ix. 79 The preacher turned over his hole-card, the sure-fire card.

1971 J. Ball First Team (1972) xxiii. 353 We may be playing with a bust hand; we don't know if our hole card has been stolen or not.

hole-high adj. (see quots.).

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > [adjective] > lie of ball

teed1737

stymied1862

cuppy1882

hole-high1897

plugged1927

1897 Encycl. Sports I. 472/2 A ball is said to be hole high when it is played on to the putting green from a distance.

1961 J. S. Salak Dict. Amer. Sports 228 Hole-high (golf), a point even with the hole but to one side or the other.

hole-mouth n. (also hole-mouthed) Archaeology said of pottery vessels without a neck.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > receptacle or container > vessel > [adjective] > having specific type of mouth

wide-mouthed1542

narrow-mouthed1563

narrow-necked1605

open-mouthed1660

wide-mouth1822

hole-mouth1909

1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. Hole-mouthed vase.

1960 K. M. Kenyon Archaeol. in Holy Land v. 124 The type of jar, known as the hole-mouth jar, neckless with a simple in-curved rim, which was used for cooking and storage, may be as much as 3 feet in height.

hole-nester n. a bird that nests in a hole.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > nest or bird defined by > [noun] > bird that builds or lives in > that nests in specific place

hay-bird1802

hay-jacka1825

hole-nester1938

1938 Brit. Birds 32 31 In similar experiments with another hole-nester..the male attacked the male mount but..ignored the female mount.

hole-proof adj. that will not wear into holes.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > [adjective] > protection or proof against something

windproof1616

winterproof1650

burglar-proof1856

hole-proof1913

shatter-proof1936

blast-proof1940

1913 Work 17 May 102 A..cloth that will not tear—in fact, is hole-proof.

1915 Truth LXXVIII. 848/1 Another customer tells me her experience in regard to some ‘hole-proof’ hose.

1962 Economist 2 June 897/1 Stockings..to be ladderproof, although not holeproof.

hole saw n. = crown saw n. at crown n. Compounds 3a.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > cutting tool > saw > [noun] > crown-saw

crown saw1749

trepan saw1839

hole saw1961

1961 Webster's 3rd New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. Hole saw.

1967 Catal. Black & Decker Powertools A drill with power to spare... Will drive holesaws up to 1½″ dia.

Draft additions 1997

hole-in-the-wall n. colloquial, chiefly British an automatic teller machine installed in the (outside) wall of a bank or other building.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > financial dealings > banking > [noun] > cash dispenser

money teller1594

cash machine1890

bank machine1920

teller machine1921

automatic teller1924

automatic teller machine1967

cash dispenser1967

automated teller machine1973

cashpoint1973

money machine1973

ATM1975

hole-in-the-wall1985

1985 Guardian 9 Feb. 24 (heading) Just ask at the hole in the wall.

1987 Today 18 Feb. 23/3 Three [banks], along with Bank of Scotland..are set to unveil their joint hole-in-the-wall cash machine network.

1989 Times 30 Aug. 23/2 ‘Phantom’ cash withdrawals from hole-in-the-wall dispensers are the biggest grievance.

1992 Independent 23 Apr. 2/1 They believe the men may be responsible for several early-morning ‘hole-in-the-wall’ raids in London and Kent.

Draft additions October 2001

hole punch n. any of various devices for piercing a hole or holes in materials, esp. for punching holes in paper, so as to allow for binding or filing (cf. hole-puncher n. at Compounds 4); (also U.S.) a small, round piece of paper punched out by such a device.

ΚΠ

1929 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 24 Dec. 805/1 Chisels, gouges, wood-carving knives, shoemakers' knives, hole punches, paring knives, pincers, nippers, [etc.].

1937 Horder's Stationery, Office Equipm. & Furnit. 215/2 A strong round hole punch intended for steady use.

1967 J. A. Wiens in Ecology 48 1007/2 A 6 mm aperture (the size of a standard paper hole punch).

1981 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 2 Aug. i. 3/1 The most feared sanction is the hole punch. Standard equipment for traffic officers, it can be used on the spot to perforate a driver's license.

1985 Catal. Sale Horse-drawn Vehicles (Thimbleby & Shorland) 6 Mar. 16 Pair of unusual small boot-pulls with hinged handles incorporating a button hook, hole punch, awl and screwdriver.

1996 Independent 4 Apr. ii. 17/2 The 146th item is my hole punch, used to put work into their personal portfolios.

2000 Arlington (Texas) Morning News (Electronic ed.) 21 Apr. You can buy confetti at a craft store, make your own with hole punches and colored paper or obtain leftover hole punches from local printers.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

holev.¹

Brit.

/həʊl/, U.S.

/hoʊl/

Forms: Old English holian, Middle English holien, Middle English hoole(n, 1600s hoale, Scottish hoile (oi = ō), Middle English– hole.

Etymology: Old English holian to hollow out, excavate = Old High German holôn , Gothic hulôn , < hol- , holl adj.

I. To make a hole.

a. transitive. To hollow out; to make a hole or cavity in; to perforate, pierce.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > hollowness > make hollow [verb (transitive)]

holec1000

mine?a1425

hollowc1450

cave?1541

raven1560

excave1578

excavate1599

exconcavate1599

the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > making holes or becoming holed > make (an opening or hole) [verb (transitive)] > make an opening or hole in or into

holec1000

openOE

to make way1581

perforate?1660

to make (also have) the sun shine through1679

ventilate1917

c1000 Ælfric Homilies II. 162 Ða gebroðra..gemetton ðone clud ða iu swætende; and hi ða hwæthwega holodon.

c1330 R. Mannyng Chron. Wace (Rolls) 6836 Þe wal þey holede.

c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 243/1 Holyn, or boryn (P. hoolen, or make hoolys), cavo, perforo, terebro.

1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball vi. lviii. 746 Before they be holed or pearsed.

1648 G. Markham Country Housew. Garden (1668) iii. x. 77 I use..a piece of wood hoal'd.

1864 Standard 29 Nov. 3/3 She [the ship] has holed her bottom.

1890 Times 27 Dec. 9/1 Some 80 miles of the route already holed [for telegraph posts].

b. To make holes in (the earth) in agriculture; to dibble; to dig trenches for planting sugar canes.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > planting > plant plants [verb (transitive)] > make hole with dibble

dibble1582

hole1756

dab1787

strike1797

1756 P. Browne Civil & Nat. Hist. Jamaica ii. ii. 130 You begin to hole, and continue to open the ground gradually.

1842 J. W. Orderson Creoleana i. 5 Occasionally ‘holing’ his neighbours' fields.

1890 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 15 Aug. 827/2 Preliminary to the all-important progressive step in coffee culture, that of transplanting, is ‘holing’.

c. To fire a bullet into.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > ill health > injury > injure [verb (transitive)] > wound > wound with missile

shootc893

shoot1297

feather1415

to shoot (a person, thing) through1535

daga1572

pistol1598

lace1622

to shoot‥through and througha1648

pink1661

pop1762

plump1785

wing1802

drill1808

rifle1821

leg1829

hole1847

shot1855

blunderbuss1870

riddle1874

pip1900

slot1987

society > armed hostility > military equipment > operation and use of weapons > action of propelling missile > discharge of firearms > fire (a gun) [verb (transitive)] > shoot (a person or thing) > pierce or riddle

riddle1511

to shoot (a person, thing) through1535

lace1622

to shoot‥through and througha1648

pink1661

hole1847

1847 A. Trollope Macdermots I. iv. 59 We'll hole him till there ar'nt a bit left in him to hole.

a1882 A. Trollope Land-leaguers (1883) I. ii. 34 Keep yourself from being holed as they holed Muster Bingham the other day.

2. To sink (a shaft), drive (a tunnel) through.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > earth-moving, etc. > [verb (transitive)] > make tunnel

mine1555

ferret1582

hole1708

tunnel1865

society > occupation and work > industry > mining > mine [verb (transitive)] > excavate or sink a shaft or tunnel

drive1665

hole1708

to put down1778

shank1821

drift1849

1708 J. C. Compl. Collier 3 in T. Nourse Mistery of Husbandry Discover'd (ed. 3) We design to hole our Pit.

1816 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 129 The Tunnel..was, after thirteen years' incessant labour, holed..with great accuracy.

1870 Daily News 30 Nov. Next week this shaft will be holed to the 100 fathom level.

3. Mining. To undercut (the coal) in a seam so as to release it from the other strata.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > mining > mine [verb (transitive)] > cut (coal) > specific method

hole1829

pool1839

undercut1883

underhole1891

overcut1907

plough1950

1829 S. Glover Hist. County of Derby I. 58 A set of colliers, called holers, who begin in the right and hole or undermine all the bank or face of the coal.

1861 Temple Bar 3 137 The collier a hundred fathoms down..holing under the coal.

1867 W. W. Smyth Treat. Coal & Coal-mining xi. 127 In breaking down or getting the coal, the first operation is to bench, kirve, or hole it along the bottom of the seam.

4. intransitive. To make a hole or holes; to dig. Esp. in Mining: to make a hole through from one working to another.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > making holes or becoming holed > become or make perforated [verb (intransitive)] > make (a) hole(s)

hole?c1225

?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 104 Þe wið hare lustes ne holieð naut dunewart ase doð þe foxes.

1303 R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne 10736 Þys mynur..wroȝt on a day, and holed yn þe hyl.

1708 J. C. Compl. Collier 18 in T. Nourse Mistery of Husbandry Discover'd (ed. 3) They frequently hole, or cut through from one Board to another.

1890 Argus (Melbourne) 29 May 9/8 From the bottom of the workings they sank 7 ft...and holed through to the crosscut.

II. To put or go into a hole.

5. transitive. To put into a hole; to put in prison; to plant (sugar canes) in holes or trenches.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > imprison [verb (transitive)]

beclosec1000

setc1100

steekc1175

prison?c1225

adightc1275

imprison1297

laya1325

keepc1330

presentc1380

locka1400

throwc1422

commise1480

clapc1530

shop1548

to lay up1565

incarcerate1575

embar1590

immure1598

hole1608

trunk1608

to keep (a person) darka1616

carceir1630

enjaila1631

pocket1631

bridewell1733

bastille1745

cage1805

quod1819

bag1824

carcerate1839

to send down1840

jug1841

slough1848

to send up1852

to put away1859

warehouse1881

roundhouse1889

smug1896

to bang up1950

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > hide, conceal [verb (transitive)] > underground

begraveOE

gravec1369

terrec1440

whelvec1440

earth1591

hole1608

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > cultivation of specific crops > [verb (transitive)] > processes in sugar-cane growing

trash1793

mattress1850

hole1866

1608 T. Middleton Mad World, my Masters iv. sig. G2^v She could not indure the sight of a man forsooth, but run and hole her selfe presently.

1618 J. Taylor True Cause Watermens Suit in Wks. (1872) 14 So their prodigal sons are holed in some loathsome jail.

1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) (at cited word) ‘To hole a person’, to send him to gaol.

1866 Morning Star 27 Sept. 4/5 To work hard in holing canes or in throwing out trenches.

a. spec. in Golf, Billiards, Bagatelle. To drive (the ball) into a hole or pocket. Also to hole out.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > billiards, pool, or snooker > [verb (transitive)] > play (the ball) in specific way

hazard1674

string1680

miss1746

pocket1756

hole1803

spot1844

nurse1850

draw1860

pot1860

hold1869

dribble1873

fluke1881

scratch1909

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > play golf [verb (transitive)] > hole the ball

to hole out1857

hole1894

sink1911

ace1929

1803 M. Charlton Wife & Mistress (ed. 2) I. 264 He contrived to hole both white and red ball at the next stroke.

1819 A. Rees Cycl. IV. at Billiards If the striker holes his adversary's ball, or forces it over the table, or on a cushion..he loses two points.

1857 Chambers's Information for People (new ed.) II. 693/2 (Golf) The best club for holing out the ball.

1880 Boy's Own Bk. (new ed.) 633 Bagatelle..The object..is to ‘hole’ the balls.

1883 Standard 16 Nov. 5/2 The number of strokes he requires to take before ‘holeing’ the ball [at golf].

1889 W. T. Linskill Golf 45 If..the ball rest against the flag-stick when in the hole, the player shall be entitled to have the stick removed, and if the ball fall in, it shall be considered as holed out.

b. absol. Golf. To drive the ball into a hole. to hole (out) in one: to achieve a ‘hole in one’ (see hole n. 4a); also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > play golf [verb (intransitive)] > hole the ball

hole1867

ace1998

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > play golf [verb (intransitive)] > score

to hole (out) in one1867

1867 Cornhill Mag. Apr. 492 The deadly accuracy with which they approach the hole, and ‘hole out’, as it is called.

1886 ‘Stonehenge’ Man. Brit. Rural Sports (ed. 16) 754/2 He who succeeds in holeing in fewer strokes than his opponent wins that hole.

1928 D. L. Sayers Unpleasantness at Bellona Club xii. 141 ‘I say we shall find a long scratch on the paint,’ said Parker... ‘Holed it in one, Charles.’

1939 ‘N. Blake’ Smiler with Knife iii. 49 ‘Oh, E.B. The E.B. printed on the flag we found in that locker?’ ‘Holed out in one.’

1971 Daily Tel. 12 June 1/5 John Hudson made golfing history in the Martini tournament..yesterday, holing in one at successive holes.

c. Golf. To drive the ball into (a hole).

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > play golf [verb (transitive)] > hole the ball

to hole out1857

hole1894

sink1911

ace1929

1894 Westm. Gaz. 29 Sept. 7/1 Mr. W. T. Griffin holed the eighth hole of the..links—100 yards—in one.

7. intransitive. To go into a hole. to hole up, (a) to retire to a hole for hibernation; also, to seek shelter, to seek (temporary) quarters; (b) to lie in wait or in ambush, to hide (chiefly U.S. slang).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > hide, lie or hidden [verb (intransitive)] > go into hiding

to take squat1583

cavea1616

hole1631

to go to earth1820

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > a secret place, hiding place > be or hide in secret place [verb (intransitive)]

squata1425

den1610

hole1828

to hole up1890

the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > [verb (intransitive)] > go to earth (of fox)

hole1828

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabiting temporarily > [verb (intransitive)]

liec1000

harbourc1200

sojournc1290

layc1300

sojourc1330

to make, take (up) one's lodging1362

pilgrimagea1382

bield?a1400

lodgec1400

tarryc1400

to make (one's) residence1433

harbingec1475

harbry1513

stay1554

roost?1555

embower1591

quarter1591

leaguer1596

allodge1601

tenta1616

visit1626

billet1628

to lie abroad1650

tabernacle1653

sojourney1657

canton1697

stop1797

to shake down1858

to hole up1875

perendinate1886

shack1935

cotch1950

the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > refuge or shelter > take or seek refuge [verb (intransitive)]

bield?a1400

to hide one's headc1475

shroud1579

subterfuge1622

refuge1640

to take refuge1667

haven1742

to go to earth1820

to hole up1875

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > hide, lie or hidden [verb (intransitive)] > remain in hiding

lurkc1300

to hide one's headc1475

mitch1558

nestle1567

to lie at (on, upon the) lurch1578

to lay low1600

skulk1626

squat1658

to lie by1709

hide1872

to hole up1875

to lie low1880

to lie (also play) doggo1882

to hide out1884

to put the lid on1966

the world > animals > by habits or actions > habits and actions > [verb (intransitive)] > hibernate

latibulize1802

hibernate1816

to den up1843

to hole up1890

the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > hostile action or attack > make attack [verb (intransitive)] > lie in wait

siteOE

wait?c1225

aspya1250

awaita1250

keepc1275

to sit in wait(s)a1300

lurkc1300

bush1330

to lie at (the) waitc1440

to lie on waitc1440

to lie wait1445

lay one's wait1535

hugger1567

to lie at (on, upon the) lurch1578

couch1582

ambuscade1592

to lie (also stand, stay, etc.) perdu1624

to lie at (or upon the) snap1631

ambush1638

to hole up1912

1631 B. Jonson Staple of Newes v. ii. 88 in Wks. II Wi' your worming braine.., Which I shall see you hole with, very shortly. A fine round head, when those two lugs are off, To trundle through a Pillory.

1631 B. Jonson Bartholmew Fayre iv. vi. 66 in Wks. II Come put in his legge in the middle roundell, and let him hole there.

1688 T. Shadwell Squire of Alsatia v. i. 72 The Rogue is hol'd somewhere.

1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) Hole, to earth as a fox.

1875 J. Burroughs Winter Sunshine 279 Only five days was I compelled to ‘hole up’ in my state-room.

1878 Scribner's Monthly 15 303/1 The fox..has run to earth, or, as we have it, ‘has holed’.

1890 L. C. D'Oyle Notches Rough Edge Life 70 It was getting time for the bears to ‘hole-up’.

1910 Mrs. H. Ward Canadian Born ix. 181 I'm a poor old broken-down..miner, who wants to hole-up somewhere, and get comfortable for his old age.

1912 C. E. Mulford & J. W. Clay Buck Peters, Ranchman xxvi. 340 Go slow, Tex; mebby he's holin' up on us, like he did on Buck.

1924 C. E. Mulford Rustlers' Valley xii. 141 Now you'll mebby have to take to th' hills an' hole up just when I need you most.

1925 C. E. Mulford Cottonwood Gulch xvi. 218 It would have been only a matter of a few minutes before they would have forced him to abandon the horse and to hole up on the defensive, to make a losing fight.

1929 W. Faulkner Sartoris iv. 282 Hole up here, you potlickin' fool.

1929 D. Hammett Red Harvest xviii. 179 You'll have to..take a plant on Willsson's... I hear whisper Thaler's holing-up there.

1939 R. Chandler Big Sleep xxvii. 240 That's the place where she's holed up.

1951 S. Lewis World so Wide xii. 135 We've got to begin thinking about holing up for the night.

1952 P. G. Wodehouse Pigs have Wings ix. 178 The poltergeist, for such he assumed it to be, appeared to have holed up behind the door that led presumably to the kitchen.

1954 ‘N. Blake’ Whisper in Gloom ii. xiv. 194 I bet you Elmer's holed up in Harwich, or somewhere near it.

1961 G. Greene Burnt-out Case ii. iii. 37 Who would expect to find the Querry holed up in a leproserie?

1973 ‘D. Jordan’ Nile Green xlv. 234 We were holed up in the flat, drinking Gold Star beer.

†III. To become full of holes.

8. intransitive. To become full of holes. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > making holes or becoming holed > become or make perforated [verb (intransitive)] > become full of holes

hole1611

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Se Trouër, to hole, to grow full of holes.

IV. To mark or record with a hole.

9. transitive. To record by punching a hole in an allotted space in a card.

ΘΚΠ

society > computing and information technology > hardware > secondary storage > punch [verb (transitive)]

hole1911

pre-punch1947

overpunch1973

keypunch1975

1911 Chambers's Jrnl. May 335/2 Not only are the old-time data, such as age,..‘holed’ into the card, but whether you are married or single.

1911 Chambers's Jrnl. May 336/2 In this machine the data ‘holed’ in every tag can be all or partly recorded on another form.

This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	hole
释义	holen. Brit. /həʊl/, U.S. /hoʊl/ Forms: Old English–Middle English hol, Middle English– hole; also Middle English–1500s hoole, Scottish hoill, hoil(e, 1500s hooll(e, whole, 1500s–1600s hoale, 1700s–1800s Yorkshire dialect hoil. Etymology: Old English hol neuter, inflected hol-e , hol-es , hol-u , a hollow place = Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old High German (Middle High German, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch, Dutch) hol (German hohl ), originally neuter of hol , holl adj., hollow. Also apparently representing Old English holh , hollow n., in its inflected forms hol-e, hol-es, (?) hol-u, which fall together with the corresponding forms of hol. (The Old English hole, holu, holum, usually referred to hol, may equally well belong to holh: see Sievers Ags. Gram. (ed. 3) §242, Anm. 3, 4; and compare inflection of healh, sealh, wealh.)The uninflected hol retained short o in Middle English, and was normally written holl n. (compare Old English sceal , smæl , Middle English shall , small ); but in the inflected forms ho-le , ho-les , etc. (whether < hol or holh ), the o in open syllable was normally lengthened, giving Middle English and modern hōle , hōles . (In modern English, short o is further lengthened before ll , giving modern dialect hōll (not distinguishable fromhōle ); in Scottish -ōll becomes -ow , -owe , giving how , howe n., ‘hollow’.) Old English holh , like other words in -lh , -rh , was susceptible of twofold inflection, (1) with loss of h , hole , etc., (2) with consonant-ablaut, holȝe , holwe , etc. The former, as said above, fell together with the inflected forms of hol ; the latter gave rise to Middle English holwe , holewe , hollow n., hollow adj. and adv. The development may be thus shown: Old Englishholuninfl.holMiddle Englishhŏllmodern (dialect)hōll,Scottishhow(e.Old Englishholinflectedhol-eMiddle Englishholemodernhole.Old Englishholhinflectedhol-eMiddle Englishholemodernhole.Old Englishholhinflectedholw-eMiddle Englishholwemodernhollow The senses, to a great extent, coincide or overlap; holl, adjective and noun, Scottish how(e, are, in use, the northern equivalents of hollow; hole, noun, has all the senses of holl (howe), noun and hollow, noun, with a fuller development of its own. In the 15–16th cent. Scottish spelling hoill, oi is merely the graphic form of ō; but in modern Yorkshire hoil, the oi is diphthongal. I. A hollow place, cavity, excavation, etc. 1. a. A hollow place or cavity in a solid body; a pit, cave, den, hiding place in the earth; a deep place in a stream, pond, etc. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > land > landscape > low land > hole or pit > [noun] dalea800 piteOE dike847 hollowc897 hole946 seathc950 delfOE hollc1050 ditchc1275 lakec1320 holetc1380 slacka1500 dell1531 vault1535 pit-hole1583 delve1590 lough1672 sinusa1676 gap1696 self-lough1700 scoop1780 cup1819 946 Charter Edmund in Kemble Cod. Dipl. III. 423 To þam ealdan hole; of ðam hole. a1000 Boeth. Metr. ii. 21 Me þas woruld sælða..on þis dimme hol dysine forlæddon. c1000 Ags. Ps. (1835) ix. 29 [x. 9] And settað his digollice, swa swa leo deð of his hole. a1225 St. Marher. 10 He..weneð for to beoren me in to his balefule hole. c1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 85/75 In þe north-side of þe toun in one olde roche he was. He lai and darede out of is hole. a1400–50 Alexander 4050 Haue ȝe na houses ne na hames, ne holis in to bery? 14.. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 722/35 Hec crupta, a hol in the erthe. c1400 (?c1380) Patience l. 306 Out of þe hole þou me herde. c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 243/1 Hoole, or pyt yn an hylle, or other lyke (S. hole, or eryth), caverna. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Edward IV f. cxcj Whiche..hid themselfes and lurked in dennes and wholes. 1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. cxxxiiij^v With their swordes digged holes in the banke to clyme vp. 1571 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xxvi. 23 Ȝour fais wist not in what hoil yame to hyde. a1605 A. Montgomerie Sonnets (1887) xxii. 11 Ȝe sall not haif ane hoill ȝour heids to hyde. 1653 I. Walton Compl. Angler ii. 52 Go to the same hole, where..you will finde floting neer the top of the water, at least a dozen or twenty Chubs. View more context for this quotation 1657 R. Ligon True Hist. Barbados 41 Great Rocks..so soft, as with your finger you may bore a hole into it. 1756 T. Hale et al. Compl. Body Husbandry iii. xix. 122 Digging a Hole in the Ground. 1826 W. Scott Woodstock III. x. 302 The head..dinted a hole in the soil of six inches in depth. 1883 J. G. Wood in Sunday Mag. Nov. 676/2 All rivers have some portions deeper than others, ‘holes’ as we call them. b. An excavation made in the ground for habitation by an animal, as the fox or badger; a burrow. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > by habitat > habitat > [noun] > dwelling place or shelter > burrow holec950 burrowa1375 dowera1398 earthc1450 anglec1720 pipe1738 tunnel1873 pig-hole1928 c950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke ix. 58 Foxas holas habbað [Rushw. G. Foxes holo habbas. Ags. G. Foxas habbað holu. Hatt. G. Foxas hæbbeð hole]. c1200 Vices & Virtues 101 Hie [naddre] haueð hire hol. c1220 Bestiary 248 Of corn and of gres [ðe mire] haleð to hire hole. 1481 W. Caxton tr. Hist. Reynard Fox (1970) 13 Reynart..wente..in to his hole, for maleperduys was ful of hooles, hier one hool and there an other. 1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) xix. 669 The fox..Lukit about sum hoill to se. 1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 120 The Viper dead, within her Hole is found. View more context for this quotation 1729 J. Swift Let. to Ld. Bolingbroke 21 Mar. To have done with the world..if I could get into a better..and not die here in a rage, like a poisoned rat in a hole. 1792 W. Osbaldiston Brit. Sportsman 40 If you intend to dig the badger out of his hole. 1885 Leisure Hour June 401 A snake-charmer's music inducing a large cobra to leave its hole. c. A deep hollow or cavity in the surface of the body; e.g. an eye-socket. Cf. armhole n. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > indentation or cavity > [noun] > depression or cavity pita1275 holec1300 cella1398 den1398 follicle?a1425 purse?a1425 pocketa1450 fossac1475 cystis1543 trench1565 conceptory1576 vesike1577 vesicle1578 vault1594 socket1601 bladderet1615 cistern1615 cavern1626 ventricle1641 bladder1661 antrum1684 conceptaculum1691 capsule1693 cellule1694 loculus1694 sinus1704 vesicula1705 vesica1706 fosse1710 pouch1712 cyst1721 air chamber1725 fossula1733 alveole1739 sac1741 sacculus1749 locule1751 compartment1772 air cell1774 fossule1803 umbilicus1811 conceptacle1819 cœlia1820 utricle1822 air sac1835 saccule1836 ampulla1845 vacuole1853 scrobicule1880 faveolus1882 c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 1813 Þat þe rith eye Vt of þe hole made he fleye. 14.. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 598/4 Nucha, the hole of the polle. 1483 Cath. Angl. 187/2 An Hole in y^e nek, frontinella. ?1533 G. Du Wes Introductorie for to lerne Frenche sig. Biv The holes vnder the armes, les esselles. 1656 R. Sanderson 20 Serm. 146 We might have waited till our eyes had sunk in their holes. 1739 J. Sparrow tr. H. F. Le Dran Observ. Surg. xiv. 53 That Part vulgarly called the Hole of the Neck. 2. transferred. †a. A secret place, a hiding place; a secret room in which an unlawful occupation is pursued; a place where unlicensed printing was carried on. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > a secret place, hiding place > [noun] hidelsc975 hidela1300 bushc1330 hulkc1330 derna1340 tapissinga1340 coverta1375 hiding1382 loting-placea1398 cover14.. hiding placec1440 mewa1450 closetc1450 hole1483 cure1502 secret1530 shrouding place1571 ivy-bush1576 coney burrowa1586 hidlings1597 foxhole1606 shrouding corner1610 recess1611 subterfuge1616 latibule1623 latebra1626 blind1646 privacy1648 hide1649 retreat1697 rathole1770 hidey-hole1817 tod hole1846 hulster1880 hideout1885 cwtch1890 castle1898 lurk1906 stash1927 hideaway1930 society > communication > printing > printing trade > [noun] > printing establishment > place of unlicensed printing hole1683 1483 Cath. Angl. 187/2 An Hole, latebra, latibulum. 1660 S. Pepys Diary 23 May (1970) I. 156 At a Catholique house, he was fain to lie in the priests hole a good while. 1683 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises II. Dict. 380 Many Printers for Lucre of Gain have gone into Holes, and then their chief care is to get a Hole Private, and Workmen Trusty and Cunning to conceal the Hole, and themselves. 1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 122/1 Holes, in Printing dialect is a place where privat Printing is used, viz. the printing of unlicensed Books or other Men's Coppies. b. A dungeon or prison-cell; spec. the name of one of the worst apartments in the Counter prison in Wood street, London. Cf. black hole n. Now usually the cell used for solitary confinement, and hence solitary confinement itself. ΘΚΠ society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > prison > [noun] > cell houseOE cabinc1522 hole1535 lodging1612 hold1717 cell1728 lock-up room1775 glory-hole1825 box1834 drum1846 sweat-box1870 booby-hutch1889 Peter1890 booby1899 boob1908 flowery dell1925 slot1947 1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 1017 Wee haue gart bind him with ane poill, And send him to the theifis hoill. 1607 T. Heywood Woman Kilde with Kindnesse sig. E2 He is denied the freedome of the prison, And in the hole is laid with men condemnd. 1607 ‘W. S.’ Puritaine iii. F But if ere wee clutch him againe, the Counter shall charm him. Rav. The hole shall rotte him. 1666 S. Pepys Diary 2 July (1972) VII. 191 He was clapped up in the Hole. 1688 P. Cook in R. L'Estrange Brief Hist. Times III. 78 In the Place call'd the Condemn'd Hole. 1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 171 The poor Fellow..is in your Condemn'd Hole. 1822 R. Nares Gloss. (at cited word) We still hear of the condemned hole in Newgate. 1912 D. Lowrie My Life in Prison iv. 39 ‘It's a case of spending the night at the springs if you're not at your cell for the count.’ In answer to my hurried inquiry about ‘the springs’ he informed me that he referred to ‘the hole’. 1927 Amer. Speech 2 282/1 Hole, dungeon or place for solitary confinement. 1935 N. Ersine Underworld & Prison Slang 45 Hole,..the solitary confinement cells of a prison. ‘Smitty just got tossed in the hole.’ 1955 W. Gaddis Recognitions ii. v. 488 He had..spent a fair amount of time in solitary confinement (‘the hole’, as it was called). 1970 G. Jackson Let. 25 Mar. in Soledad Brother (1971) 197 They're out of the hole (isolation) already. c. A small dingy lodging or abode; a small or mean habitation; an unpleasant place of abode; a term of contempt or depreciation for any place. ΘΚΠ society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > a dwelling > other types of dwelling > [noun] > vile or miserable hell-holec1400 dogholec1450 cabin1594 sty1605 hole1616 hogsty1688 gourbi1738 rathole1770 pigsty1798 hell's kitchen1827 den1836 kennel1837 pigpen1872 rural slum1886 1616 W. Haig Let. 2 Aug. in J. Russell Haigs of Bemersyde (1881) vii. 156 Being innocent, it is a pity to smother me in this loath~some hole. 1693 J. Dryden in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires xiv. 290 How much more Happy thou, that art content To live within this little Hole, than I Who after Empire, that vain Quarry, fly. 1726 G. Leoni Alcuni Disegni di Edificj: Some Designs for Buildings Pref. 1/2 You expect a stately Palace, where you find nothing but an ill-contrived Hole. 1836 T. Hook Gilbert Gurney III. 127 This house..to me the horridest hole I ever was in. 1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda II. iii. xxv. 138 Grandcourt..pronounced that resort of fashion a beastly hole worse than Baden. 1889 ‘J. S. Winter’ Mrs. Bob (1891) 3 Two hundred a year for a little hole I could not get my piano into. d. A shilling. slang. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > English coins > [noun] > shilling s.1387 solidus?a1475 shilling1533 teston1543 twelvepence1563 bord1567 twelvepenny piece1594 sh.1607 hog1673 twelver1699 she-lion1744 grunter1785 twalpenny worth1786 bob1789 pega1790 tower shilling1800 little shilling1826 deaner1839 rogue and villain1857 stag1857 hole1934 1934 P. Allingham Cheapjack iv. 38 A penny is a ‘clod’, and ‘sprasy’ means sixpence. A shilling is also a ‘hole’, and a two-shilling piece is a ‘two-ender’. 1939 J. B. Priestley Let People Sing x. 256 Knocker brought out some money and examined it. ‘..A nicker, half a bar, a caser an' a hole.’ 3. figurative. A position from which it is difficult to escape; a fix, scrape, mess. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > difficulty > [noun] > difficult state of things > predicament or straits needfulnessc1350 kankedortc1374 pressc1375 needfultya1382 briguec1400 brikec1400 plightc1400 taking?c1425 partyc1440 distrait1477 brakea1529 hot water1537 strait1544 extremes1547 pickle1562 praemunire1595 lock1598 angustiae1653 difficulty1667 scrape1709 premune1758 hole1760 Queer Street1811 warm water1813 strift1815 fix1816 plisky1818 snapper1818 amplush1827 false position1830 bind1851 jackpot1887 tight1896 squeeze1905 jam1914 1760 C. Johnstone Chrysal (1764) I. ii. vii. 132 I should take great pleasure in serving you, and getting you out of this hole. 1762 T. Smollett Adventures Sir Launcelot Greaves II. xvi. 77 I should be in a deadly hole myself, if all my customers should take it in their heads to drink nothing but water-gruel. a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Hole, a scrape..A man gets himself into a hole by taking a wrong step. 1867 ‘Ouida’ Under Two Flags i. 9 I'm in a hole—no end of a hole—and I thought you'd help me. 1925 P. G. Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves iv. 81 ‘Mr Bickersteth is in a hole, Jeeves,..and wants you to rally round.’ ‘Very good, sir.’ 1937 A. Christie Murder in Mews 218 Lawyers, even the most respectable, have been known to embezzle their client's money when they themselves are in a hole. 1970 G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard v. 154 Too bad if he has, I'll be in a great big hole. 4. technical. a. A hemispherical cavity into which a ball or marbles are to be got in various games; esp. one of those into which the ball is driven at golf; hence, a point scored by the player who drives his ball from one hole to another with the fewest strokes. spec. one of the (usually nine or eighteen) strips of land on a golf-course, consisting of a tee, fairway (and bordering rough), green and hole (sense 4a), over which a golfer plays his ball; the play which takes place between teeing off and holing the ball; hole in one, the driving of the ball from the tee into the hole with only one stroke. Also figurative. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > [noun] > area for play > hole hole1583 society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > golf course > [noun] > hole for ball hole1808–18 dogleg hole1909 dogleg1911 one-shotter1922 society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > golf course > [noun] > section of hole1874 blind hole1900 society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > [noun] > scoring half1881 par1887 bird1906 birdie1906 eagle1909 double eagle1925 albatross1932 hole in one1935 bogey1946 double bogey1954 1583 C. Hollyband Campo di Fior 129 We will playe at pit hole for nuttes. We will make a pitte hole, and there cast our nuttes. 1808–18 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. at Golf A game in Scotland, in which hooked clubs are used for striking balls, stuffed very hard with feathers, from one hole to another. 1874 J. Blackwood Let. 4 Aug. in ‘G. Eliot’ Lett. (1956) VI. 74 When we were a few holes out he exclaimed fervently, ‘This is a great, glorious, and noble game.’ 1887 J. L. Stewart Golfiana Miscellanea 100 The hole is won by the side holing at fewest strokes. 1890 Ld. Wellwood in H. G. Hutchinson et al. Golf (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) 43 You are playing a match of, say, eighteen holes, and have reached the putting-green of the last hole. 1891 H. G. Hutchinson Famous Golf Links 90 Point Garry is a long, hazardous hole. 1891 H. G. Hutchinson Famous Golf Links 156 The third hole (135 yards) is an exact counterpart of the second. 1893 J. M. Barrie & A. Conan Doyle Jane Annie ii. 41 I gives in! You have my word of honour! It's your hole. 1896 W. Park Game of Golf 5 The size of the holes, as fixed by the laws of the game, is four and a quarter inches in diameter. 1908 J. Braid Advanced Golf 252 Holes of about 360 to 380 yards. 1935 Graves & Longhurst Candid Caddies 28 There are all kinds of variants on the ‘hole in one’ story where the player has achieved this feat with a club other than the one selected by the caddie. 1971 Daily Tel. 12 June 1/5 (heading) Golfer gets two holes in one. 1971 Daily Tel. 12 June 1/5 Successive holes in one have been done only twice before in Britain. 1972 I. Stuart Golf in Hertfordshire 67 There are six par-three holes, all of them fair and only one over 200 yards. 1973 Country Life 17 May 1369/3 The final rounds of a 72-hole event. b. Billiards. = pocket n. and adj. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > billiards, pool, or snooker > [noun] > table > pocket hazard1598 hole1688 pocket1744 1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 262/2 The Holes in the four corners and sides of the..Billiard Table. 1725 Cotton's Compl. Gamester (new ed.) 151 At the four Corners of the [Billiard] Table there are Holes, and at each side exactly in the Middle, one, which are called Hazards. 1778 T. Jones Hoyle's Games Improved 191 He that stops either Ball, when running, loses one; and if near the Hole, loses two. †c. The narrow closed part or bag at the lower end of a trawl-net or other fishing net: = cod n.¹ 5. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > net > [noun] > bag at end of net cod1485 bunt1602 hole1630 hose1630 purse1821 cod end1855 pocket1869 pit1883 1630 Order in R. Griffiths Ess. Jurisdict. Thames (1746) 72 The third Part, which is the Hole or Cod, Inch and Quarter wet and dry. d. Chess. (See quots.) ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > board game > chess > [noun] > chessboard > square > specific squares four pointsc1450 black1474 white1474 hole1894 queening square1918 1894 J. Mason Princ. Chess i. 24 Hole, a square on the third or fourth rank, neither commanded, nor liable to be commanded, by any friendly Pawn. 1895 H. E. Bird Chess Novelties 115 KBP was followed by QP2, leaving at once a landing square (a nasty hole Steinitz would call it) for opponent's pieces. 1922 Brit. Chess Mag. Feb. 105/2 The net result of the two moves is to create a hole at White's Q Kt 4. 1955 Chess (‘Know the Game' Series) 26/1 Another example of weakness in the pawn-formation is that of ‘holes’ or ‘fore-posts’ which may be occupied successfully by an opposing piece. 1968 O. Hindle Further Steps in Chess iv. 49 Holes..are squares which the defender can no longer protect with his pawns. They are thus ideal posts for attacking pieces, which can settle on them without fear of being easily driven off. e. Eton Fives. A small square portion of the floor enclosed by the pepper-box and step. to be in holes; hence attributive in holes innings. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > handball, etc. > [noun] > fives > court > parts of pepperbox1865 step1890 hole1897 1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 399 A, who begins serving, is bound to give C—who is said to be ‘in holes’—the sort of service which he prefers. 1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 400 All alike differ from Eton Courts in having no pepper-box, hole, or step. 1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 402 In the first innings of a game A (who goes in first) is said to have ‘holes innings’, i.e., when both A and B have been put out, A will be ‘in holes’. f. Physics. A position from which an electron is absent: originally a concept in the theory of the positron, now esp. a position in a semiconductor which may be regarded as a mobile carrier of a positive charge. Also attributive and in other combinations. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > solid state physics > semiconductivity > [noun] > carrier of charges > mobile carrier hole1930 the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > particle avoiding strong interaction > electron > [noun] > positive electron > position of absent electron hole1930 1930 P. A. M. Dirac in Proc. Royal Soc. A. 126 362 Only the small departures from exact uniformity, brought about by some of the negative-energy states being unoccupied, can we hope to observe. Let us examine the properties of the vacant states or ‘holes’. 1933 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 139 714 The few states which are unoccupied behave like ordinary particles with positive kinetic energy and with a positive charge. Dirac originally wished to identify these ‘holes’ with protons, but this had to be abandoned when it was found that the holes necessarily have the same mass as negative electrons. 1934 P. A. M. Dirac in Proc. Cambr. Philos. Soc. 30 150 Any unoccupied negative-energy states would be observable to us, as holes in the distribution of negative-energy electrons, but these holes would appear as particles with positive kinetic energy... It seems reasonable..to identify these holes with the recently discovered positrons. 1936 W. Heitler Quantum Theory Radiation 188 Thus..positive electrons are represented as holes in the distribution of electrons filling up the negative energy states. 1940 Nature 29 June 998/2 It is suggested..that in cuprous oxide the vacant lattice points and the points from which an electron is missing (positive holes) are dissociated. 1948 Physical Rev. 74 230/2 As a result, the current in the forward direction with respect to the block is composed in large part of holes, i.e., of carriers of sign opposite to those normally in excess in the body of the block. 1949 Physical Rev. 75 865/2 The ionization energy of donors is less than that of acceptors, probably because conduction electrons have a smaller effective mass than holes. 1954 Electronic Engin. 26 34 Positive charge carriers known as ‘holes’... These holes are thought to have different mean life-times and mobilities in different diodes. 1957 Electronic Engin. 29 3 As all transistors have a finite base width all transistors must show hole storage effects due to the time taken for holes to cross the base from emitter to collector. 1962 J. H. Simpson & R. S. Richards Physical Princ. Junction Transistors ii. 32 Also, because impurities or defects that trap electrons may have characteristics quite different from those of their hole-trapping counterparts, the lifetime of minority carriers may be quite different in p-type and n-type materials of similar quality. 1966 New Scientist 11 Aug. 317/3 Travel is limited to the distance covered before electron and hole annihilate one another. 5. U.S. regional. a. An indentation or opening in the coast; a small bay, a cove. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > land > land mass > shore or bank > bend in coast > [noun] > bay or gulf > small hopec1425 docka1552 cove1590 hole1639 baylet1826 keyhole1851 porth1860 covelet1876 gunk-hole1908 1639 in Virginia Hist. Mag. (1895) 3 31 Yf the shipps be p'mitted to goe at pleasure and ride in every hole as is desired by them. 1748 H. Ellis Voy. Hudson's-Bay 149 This [flag] was to be raised at a good anchoring place called Five-Fathom Hole. 1807 C. W. Janson Stranger in Amer. 390 Tobacco is..conveyed then down the river to Hobbs' Hole, where ships in the European trade lie ready to receive them. Categories » b. A grassy valley surrounded by mountains. 6. = holl n., hold n.² of a ship. ΘΚΠ society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > bottom or part under water > [noun] > hold bosomOE hole1483 holl1488 howe1513 hold1591 1483 Cath. Angl. 187/2 An Hole,..columbar est nauis. 1678 A. Marvell Acct. Growth Popery (new ed.) 11 The Hole of some Amsterdam Fly-boat. 1882 G. S. Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 97 Abaft the main hole. II. A perforation, and connected senses. 7. a. An aperture passing through anything; a perforation, opening. ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > an opening or aperture > [noun] holec725 thirla900 eyeOE opena1200 opening?c1225 overturec1400 overta1425 wideness?c1425 howe1487 hiatus1563 vent1594 apertion1599 ferme1612 notch1615 sluice1648 gape1658 aperture1661 want1664 door1665 hiulcitya1681 to pass through the eye of a needle (also a needle's eye)1720 vista1727 light1776 ope1832 lacuna1872 doughnut hole1886 c725 Corpus Gloss. 1900 Spiramentum, hol. c1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 201 We..cumeð to þe stone, þe haueð fif hole narewe, þat is..his holie fif wunden. c1290 Beket 1144 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 139 Þoruȝ þe churche he made an hol. 14.. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 627/12 Þe hoole of a prevay, gumphus. c1480 (a1400) St. Ninian 505 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 318 Ane alde coble þare he fand, þat mony hoilis in it had. c1540 (?a1400) Destr. Troy 13501 Hit happit hym in hast the hoole for to fynd Of the cave. ?1567 Merie Tales Master Skelton sig. Ci What shall those hoales serue for?..holes to looke out to see thy enemyes. 1674 tr. P. M. de la Martinière New Voy. Northern Countries 85 A top the House..there is a hole or window left for light to come in. 1687 London Gaz. No. 2218/4 A new fashionable Suit..gold frost Buttons, and gold Holes. 1773 J. Hawkesworth Acct. Voy. Southern Hemisphere II. ii. iv. 332 A musket was fired..which fortunately struck the boat..and made two holes in her side. 1896 Times 16 Dec. 5/2 The service bullet was found to have drilled clean holes, and..the hole of exit was little, if any, larger than the hole of entry. figurative.1611 M. Smith in Bible (King James) Transl. Pref. 1 If there be any hole left for cauill to enter. b. hole in the wall, (an originally disparaging term for) any small, obscure place; spec. in the U.S., a place where alcoholic drinks are sold illegally. Applied, esp. attributive, to a business that is very small, mean, dingy, or the like, or to a person running such a business. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > wretchedness > [adjective] unledeeOE sorryOE evila1131 usellc1175 wanlichec1275 bad1276 sorry1372 meana1375 caitiff1393 loddera1400 woefula1400 foulc1400 wretched1450 meschant?1473 unselc1480 peevisha1522 miser1542 scurvy?1577 forlorn1582 villainous1582 measled1596 lamented1611 thrallfula1618 despicable1635 deplorable1642 so-and-so1656 poorish1657 squalida1660 lamentable1676 mesquina1706 shan1714 execrable1738 quisby1807 hole in the wall1822 measly1847 bum1878 shag-bag1888 snidey1890 pathetic1900 the world > space > place > [noun] > set apart or out of the way > small and obscure business premises hole in the wall1822 the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > one who is unimportant > paltry, mean, or contemptible > types of Lilliputian1726 hole in the wall1822 society > trade and finance > trading place > place where retail transactions made > [noun] > shop > shop selling liquor > unlicensed > specific illicit or illegal poteen shop1834 blind-pig1887 hole in the wall1887 speakeasy1889 1822 W. Hazlitt in New Monthly Mag. 4 102 I had heard Mr. James Simpkins..when the character of the Hole in the Wall was brought in question, observe—‘The house is a very good house, and the company quite genteel.’ 1856 Iroquois Republican (Middleport, Illinois) 25 Dec. 2/3 A ‘grocery’—a ‘doggery’ —a ‘hole-in-the-wall’—is an ‘odious damned spot’ in any community. 1870 C. Dickens Edwin Drood xviii. 142 The Gate House, of which..the Verger's hole in the wall was an appanage or subsidiary part. 1887 Minnesota Gen. Statutes Suppl. (1888) 248 Whoever shall attempt to evade or violate any of the laws of this state..by means of the artifice or contrivance known as the ‘Blind Pig’, or ‘Hole in the Wall’..shall..be punished. 1896 C. H. Shinn Story of Mine 51 Many lived in ‘dug-outs’, which they called ‘holes in the wall’. 1919 Detective Story Mag. 25 Nov. 129 He breakfasted at a hole-in-the-wall lunch room before starting out on his quest. 1923 D. Sells Brit. Trade Boards Syst. iv. ii. 259 The emphasis which reputable employers lay upon the benefit of Trade Boards in eliminating the ‘hole in the wall’ employer..from the field of industry, can hardly be overstated. 1940 F. Riesenberg Golden Gate 212 Craft that could go into the ‘holes in the wall’ along the ragged Pacific Coast. 1945 E. S. Gardner Case of Gold-digger's Purse (1948) xiii. 153 It's just a little place—just a little lunch counter. Sort of a hole in the wall. 1945 ‘L. Lewis’ Birthday Murder (1951) iii. 37 Sawn scorned..decadent play spots of the economically fortunate, and would insist on going to a hole in the wall infested by cockroaches, cocottes and cab drivers. 1951 C. W. Mills White Collar i. ii. 30 The hole-in-the-wall business, also known as a Mom-and-Pop store. 1953 W. R. Burnett Vanity Row viii. 60 A Bohemian section of the town..dotted with little..hole-in-the-wall cafés. 1958 Time 3 Feb. 23/1 To survive, most workers have to take second jobs, many of them in the innumerable hole-in-the-wall private enterprises that have sprung up. 1973 J. Goodfield Courier to Peking ix. 100 One of her favourite places was more a hole-in-the-wall than a shop. c. in holes: perforated with holes, worn into holes. Also to go in (also into) holes. ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > an opening or aperture > perforated with holes [phrase] in holes1861 1861 H. Mayhew London Labour (new ed.) II. 470/2 I can't abide this muckydam [sc. macadam]..it's sloppy stuff, and goes so bad in holes. 1892 Cassell's Mag. July 469/2 His jerseys go into holes, and his flannels shrink. 1892 Field 15 Oct. 579/3 Sacks split or go in holes. 1926 A. Christie Murder of Roger Ackroyd x. 127 He wouldn't even buy new face towels, though I told him the old ones were in holes. d. Aeronautics. hole in the air: an old name for an air-pocket (air n.¹ Compounds 1b(a)). ΘΚΠ the world > matter > gas > air > [noun] > air above our heads > deep hollow in gulf1712 bump1909 air pocket1910 hole in the air1911 pocket1911 society > travel > air or space travel > specific movements or positions of aircraft > air as medium for operation of aircraft > [noun] > air-pocket air pocket1910 hole in the air1911 1911 G. C. Loening Monoplanes & Biplanes xiv. 305 The air is very variable, and even on a relatively calm day there are likely to be ‘holes in the air’. 1916 H. Barber Aeroplane Speaks 51 Now the Aeroplane is almost over the river, and the next instant it suddenly drops into a ‘hole in the air’. 1917 C. C. Turner Aircraft of To-day vi. 98 The terms ‘air-pocket’ and ‘hole in the air’ are frequently heard in flying circles. e. colloquial hole in (the) heart: a congenital malformation of the heart in which there is an abnormal communication between the right and left sides. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > ill health > deformity > deformities of specific parts > [noun] > other deformities eversion1567 exenteration1831 ankyloglossia1848 baker's knee1871 mal-insertion1904 malrotation1932 hole in (the) heart1958 1958 Hammersmith Post 25 July 1/4 (heading) Mother reassured over ‘hole in heart’ operation. 1958 Hammersmith Post 25 July 1/4 A seven-year-old boy..is due to have a ‘hole in heart’ operation. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Sept. 549/5 The author describes the operation for a septal defect—the condition popularly known as a ‘hole in the heart’. 1961 Listener 2 Nov. 693/1 The oxygenator took over the duties of heart and lung in the ‘hole-in-the-heart’ operation. 1966 Guardian 17 May 3/4 Oxygen 15..is being used..for the diagnosis of the hole-in-the-heart condition. 8. The orifice of any organ or part of the body. spec. (slang) The mouth, the anus, or the female external genital organs. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > indentation or cavity > [noun] > opening or hole holea1400 vent1567 perforation1578 mouth1634 foramen1672 ostium1683 stoma1684 buttonhole1753 inlet1828 aditus1839 os1858 hiatus1886 a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 528 (MED) Seuen holes [Vesp. thirls] haþ mannes heed euen. c1400 Mandeville's Trav. (Roxb.) xxii. 100 Þai hafe in steed of þaire mouth a lytill hole. 1486 Bk. St. Albans B j b The Hoolis in the hawkes beke bene callede the Nares. ?a1500 Nominale (Yale Beinecke 594) in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 749/8 Hec arteria, the hole of the throt. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 232/1 Hole that swete or heres cometh out at, pore. 1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet ii. iii. 85 This driueling loue is like a great naturall, that runs vp and downe to hide his bable in a hole . View more context for this quotation 1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 283 There are seauen crosse ribbes in his Necke, and seuen from his raines to his hole. 1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 611 A Membrane where~with the hoale of the eare is stopped. 1687 A. Lovell tr. J. de Thévenot Trav. into Levant i. 117 The hole of the Nostril full round. 1719 in T. D'Urfey Wit & Mirth 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. c1744 in Oxf. Dict. Nursery Rhymes (1951) 372 Little Robin red breast, Sitting on a pole, Niddle, Noddle, Went his head, And Poop went his Hole. 1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. xviii. [Penelope] 714 My hole is itching me. 1959 I. Opie & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolchildren iii. 49 Habitual grumblers in London's East End receive the poetic injunction: ‘Oo, shut yer moanin' 'ole’. 1966 L. Cohen Beautiful Losers (1970) i. 9 Don't give me this all diamond shit, shove it up your occult hole. 9. figurative. A flaw, fault, ground for blame. Usually in to pick a hole or holes in something; formerly also to find (pick, make) a hole in a person's coat. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > imperfection > [noun] > an imperfection > defect or fault or flaw faultc1320 breckc1369 villainyc1400 offencec1425 defectc1450 defection1526 vitiosity1538 faintness1543 gall1545 eelist1549 mar1551 hole1553 blemish1555 wart1603 flaw1604 mulct1632 wound1646 failurea1656 misfeature1818 bug1875 out1886 1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique i. f. 53 The lawyers lacke no cases..Is his Lease long..Then (q^þ he) let me alone with it, I wil finde a hole in it. a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) iii. vi. 85 If I finde a hole in his Coat, I will tell him my minde. View more context for this quotation 1648 M. Nedham Plea for King 21 Every ambitious popular person would be ready to pick holes in their Coates, to bring them into disfavour of the People. 1682 A. Wood Life & Times (1894) III. 4 If they did not appeare, there might some hole be picked in their charter. 1793 R. Burns Poems (ed. 2) II. 219 If there's a hole in a' your coats, I rede you tent it. 1871 D. M. Mulock Fair France i. 4 We do not go to visit a neighbour, in order to pick holes in him and his establishment. 1894 A. D. Godley Aspects Mod. Oxf. 93 Any one can pick holes in the University system of teaching and examination. †10. a. An old game in which balls were rolled through little cavities or arches; called also Pigeon-hole, Troll-madam, Trunks; (see also quot. 1816). Cf. nine holes n. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > bagatelle and similar games > [noun] troll-madam1572 nine holes1573 pigeonholes1608 small trunksc1610 hole1611 trucks1671 roly-poly1707 Mississippi1728 bumble-puppy1794 bubble the justice1801 bagatelle1819 cockamaroo1850 pigs in clover1889 pinball1911 pinball game1911 Skee-Ball1923 Corinthian bagatelle1933 pachinko1949 1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Trou Madame, the Game called Trunkes, or the Hole. 1816 Sporting Mag. 48 178 Another game called holes was occasionally played by a few of the boys... Three squares were cut in the earth, one within the other, in each side of which were three holes. [Etc.] b. An old game of cards. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > other card games > [noun] > others laugh and lie down1522 mack1548 decoyc1555 pinionc1557 to beat the knave out of doors1570 imperial1577 prima vista1587 loadum1591 flush1598 prime1598 thirty-perforce1599 gresco1605 hole1621 my sow's pigged1621 slam1621 fox-mine-host1622 whipperginnie1622 crimpa1637 hundred1636 pinache1641 sequence1653 lady's hole1658 quebas1668 art of memory1674 costly colours1674 penneech1674 plain dealing1674 wit and reason1680 comet1685 lansquenet1687 incertain1689 macham1689 uptails1694 quinze1714 hoc1730 commerce1732 matrimonya1743 tredrille1764 Tom come tickle me1769 tresette1785 snitch'ems1798 tontine1798 blind hazard1816 all fives1838 short cards1845 blind hookey1852 sixty-six1857 skin the lamb1864 brisque1870 handicap1870 manille1874 forty-five1875 slobberhannes1877 fifteen1884 Black Maria1885 slapjack1887 seven-and-a-half1895 pit1904 Russian Bank1915 red dog1919 fan-tan1923 Pelmanism1923 Slippery Sam1923 go fish1933 Russian Banker1937 racing demon1938 pit-a-pat1947 scopa1965 1621 J. Taylor Motto in Wks. (1630) 54/2 Ruffe, slam, Trump, noddy, whisk, hole, Sant, New-cut. Phrases to be in the hole U.S.: to be in (usually financial) difficulties (cf. 3). a hole in the head, esp. in to need (something) like a hole in the head (cf. Yiddish ich darf es vi a loch in kop): applied to something not desired at all or something useless. to make a hole (in anything): to use up, or cause the loss of, a considerable amount of anything; to create a loss. to make a hole in the water: see water n. Phrases 3a(c). a round peg (or man) in a square hole (and vice versa): one whose situation does not fit his special aptitudes. to pick a hole or holes in: see sense 9. to put in the hole (slang): to swindle, defraud. to take (something) a hole lower: to take down, humiliate, humble; cf. buttonhole n. Phrases. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > humility > make humble [verb (transitive)] edmodienc1175 lowc1175 meekc1175 lessa1382 abatec1390 abasea1393 belowc1400 meekenc1400 disadvance?c1425 simplec1450 lowlyc1485 humilea1492 chasten1526 to pare the nails ofa1549 lessen1579 vail1582 to take (something) a hole lower1591 destate1615 humblea1616 thorough-humblea1617 humiliate1656 level1712 unnichea1751 to level up, down1791 unpedestal1821 to take the starch out of1830 the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > using up, expending, or consuming > use up, expend, or consume [verb (transitive)] spend1297 usea1382 costa1400 consumea1527 to make a hole (in anything)1591 absorb1686 to use up1712 expend1745 to use off1812 to get through ——1833 to go through ——1949 the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > defrauding or swindling > perpetrate (a swindle) [verb (transitive)] > defraud or swindle defraud1362 deceivec1380 plucka1500 lurch1530 defeata1538 souse1545 lick1548 wipe1549 fraud1563 use1564 cozen1573 nick1576 verse1591 rooka1595 trim1600 skelder1602 firk1604 dry-shave1620 fiddle1630 nose1637 foista1640 doa1642 sharka1650 chouse1654 burn1655 bilk1672 under-enter1692 sharp1699 stick1699 finger1709 roguea1714 fling1749 swindle1773 jink1777 queer1778 to do over1781 jump1789 mace1790 chisel1808 slang1812 bucket1819 to clean out1819 give it1819 to put in the hole1819 ramp1819 sting1819 victimize1839 financier1840 gum1840 snakea1861 to take down1865 verneuk1871 bunco1875 rush1875 gyp1879 salt1882 daddle1883 work1884 to have (one) on toast1886 slip1890 to do (a person) in the eye1891 sugar1892 flay1893 to give (someone) the rinky-dink1895 con1896 pad1897 screw1900 short-change1903 to do in1906 window dress1913 ream1914 twist1914 clean1915 rim1918 tweedle1925 hype1926 clip1927 take1927 gazump1928 yentz1930 promote1931 to take (someone) to the cleaners1932 to carve up1933 chizz1948 stiff1950 scam1963 to rip off1969 to stitch up1970 skunk1971 to steal (someone) blind1974 diddle- the mind > possession > poverty > in impoverished state [phrase] > lacking money out of cash1593 out of stock1648 stump1828 nary red1849 to be in the hole1890 the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > [noun] > that which is useless > typically sick headache1915 a hole in the head1951 1591 J. Lyly Endimion iii. iii. sig. E3 Hee hath taken his thoughts a hole lower, and sayth..hee will vaile bonet to beautie. 1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Humilié, humbled..taken a hole lower. 1617 F. Moryson Itinerary ii. 183 To lay five hundred of your best men on the earth, which losse will make a great hole in your Armie. 1625 C. Burges New Discouery Personal Tithes 75 It will make a greater hole in thy conscience, then it can in thine estate by parting with it. 1706 Mrs. Ray in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eminent Literary Men (1843) (Camden) 208 Mr. Ray did not leave £40 a year..out of which taxes, repairs, and quit-rent make a great hole. 1819 J. H. Vaux New Vocab. Flash Lang. in Mem. (1964) 243 To put a person in the hole, to defraud him of his due share of the booty by embezzling a part of the property, or the money, it is fenced for; this phrase also applies generally to defrauding anyone with whom you are confidentially connected of what is justly his due. 1833 Session Papers 3 Jan. 115/1 Miller..said they had put him in the hole, and he..would say where they were; by putting him in the hole, I understand they did not take the property away as he expected. 1887 Spectator 26 Mar. 412/2 An average daily consumption of four glasses..makes a hole in the income of the working class. 1890 Centralia (Washington) Chron. 18 Sept. 3/2 His failure leaves a number of our local dealers in the hole for amounts ranging from £200 down. 1893 L. W. Moore His Own Story xxi. 293 What was said at that time about his being ‘put in the hole’, I cannot say; but I do know he held me blameless, for none of the funds, except my own share, was ever in my possession. a1895 Ld. C. E. Paget Autobiogr. (1896) iii. 72 The Admiralty would not rescind their orders, so we were a round man in a square hole, and vice versâ. 1897 Boston Jrnl. 12 Mar. 10/1 The sporting-man was $40 in the hole. 1916 Literary Digest 8 Jan. 87/1 The Wards were in the hole to the extent of close to $800,000. 1926 J. Black You can't Win ix. 104 I thought you put me in the hole for some coin, but I found out that the people lost just what you both said. 1939 P. G. Wodehouse Uncle Fred in Springtime iii. 45 How in the world did you manage to get in the hole for a sum like that? 1951 in M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 29/2 A smart operator needs a dame like he needs a hole in the head. 1951 J. D. Salinger Catcher in Rye xiv. 91 The Disciples..were about as much use to Him as a hole in the head. 1955 W. Gaddis Recognitions i. iii. 101 I need this drink like I need a hole in the head. 1971 D. Creed Trial of Lobo Icheka xiii. 133 He needed Petersen about as much as he needed a hole in the head. Compounds C1. General attributive. (In sense 4a.) hole game n. ΚΠ 1895 Westm. Gaz. 6 May 7/2 There is all the difference..between the stroke and the hole game [at golf], and at least a score of men have some chance. hole play n. ΚΠ 1889 W. T. Linskill Golf iii. 13 Besides ‘hole play’, which involves playing a succession of small matches from hole to hole round the links, there is also what is called ‘score play’. C2. hole-board n. (see quot.). ΚΠ 1874 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. I. 599/2 The hole-board of the loom for fancy weaving. It is an upright board of the loom through which pass the neck-twines. hole-creeper n. a sneaking thief. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > [noun] > who works by stealth thief688 hole-creeper1462 stalker?a1513 sneak1785 creep1914 snooper1924 1462 in G. P. Scrope Hist. Castle Combe (1852) 323 Communis holecreppar anserum et porcellorum tenentium. hole-man n. (see quot.). ΚΠ 1861 H. Mayhew London Labour (new ed.) II. 447/1 The holeman, who goes into the cesspool. hole-stitch n. (see quot.). ΚΠ 1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward Dict. Needlework 253/2 Hole Stitch, a stitch used in Pillow Lace making, to form holes or small round spots in the centre of the thick parts of a pattern. C3. Locative. hole-breeder n. ΚΠ 1889 F. A. Knight By Leafy Ways 155 The kingfisher, another hole~breeder. hole-builder n. ΚΠ 1891 Daily News 16 Feb. 5/1 Her eggs..are white, like those of most hole-builders. hole-creeping adj. and n. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > [adjective] > stealing or inclined to > in sneaking manner sheep-bitinga1616 hole-creeping1638 the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > [noun] > in sneaking manner manticulation1623 sneak1699 hole-creeping1852 creep1928 1638 J. Ford Fancies iii. 40 The Page, that hole-creeping Page. 1852 G. P. Scrope Hist. Castle Combe 235 He qualified himself..by ‘hole-creeping’ after his neighbours' geese and pigs. C4. Objective. hole-cutter n. ΚΠ 1897 Westm. Gaz. 9 Mar. 8/3 Drillers and hole-cutters. hole-digger n. ΚΠ 1876 W. H. Preece & J. Sivewright Telegraphy 188 To guide the hole-diggers in the event of the marks..having been removed. hole-digging n. ΚΠ 1876 W. H. Preece & J. Sivewright Telegraphy 189 Hole-digging..for a telegraph pole. hole-picking n. ΚΠ 1801 C. Gadsden in J. Adams' Wks. (1854) IX. 580 That his public actions may be judged of..without any captious hole~picking. hole-piercing n. hole-punched adj. ΚΠ 1956 S. Bellow Seize the Day (1957) ii. 42 He put the hole-punched cards in his pocket. hole-puncher n. ΚΠ 1961 Lebende Sprachen 6 70/1 Hole puncher. hole-stopper n. ΚΠ 1794 J. Wolcot Wks. II. 85 A neighbouring town..Begg'd him to be their tinker—their hole-stopper. C5. hole-nesting adj. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > nest or bird defined by > [adjective] > that nests in hole hole-nesting1938 1938 Brit. Birds 31 242 In the present experiments three hole-nesting species..were selected. 1953 N. Tinbergen Herring Gull's World x. 94 Territory in the Herring Gull most certainly has nothing to do with the reservation of a nesting site..as it has in hole-nesting birds. hole-card n. in stud poker, a card which has been dealt face down; also figurative. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > poker > [noun] > type of card openers1889 kicker1892 hole-card1908 rag1978 river1978 1908 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 5 Dec. 19/2 Scarcely glancing at his hole card Phelps let him take the pot, and it became Phelps' deal. 1926 C. E. Mulford Bar 20 rides Again xxi. 282 Beginnin' with this hand I'm bettin' five hundred blind on th' hole-card, an' seein' if I can't bring this game to a finish. 1952 J. Steinbeck East of Eden ix. 79 The preacher turned over his hole-card, the sure-fire card. 1971 J. Ball First Team (1972) xxiii. 353 We may be playing with a bust hand; we don't know if our hole card has been stolen or not. hole-high adj. (see quots.). ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > [adjective] > lie of ball teed1737 stymied1862 cuppy1882 hole-high1897 plugged1927 1897 Encycl. Sports I. 472/2 A ball is said to be hole high when it is played on to the putting green from a distance. 1961 J. S. Salak Dict. Amer. Sports 228 Hole-high (golf), a point even with the hole but to one side or the other. hole-mouth n. (also hole-mouthed) Archaeology said of pottery vessels without a neck. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > receptacle or container > vessel > [adjective] > having specific type of mouth wide-mouthed1542 narrow-mouthed1563 narrow-necked1605 open-mouthed1660 wide-mouth1822 hole-mouth1909 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. Hole-mouthed vase. 1960 K. M. Kenyon Archaeol. in Holy Land v. 124 The type of jar, known as the hole-mouth jar, neckless with a simple in-curved rim, which was used for cooking and storage, may be as much as 3 feet in height. hole-nester n. a bird that nests in a hole. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > nest or bird defined by > [noun] > bird that builds or lives in > that nests in specific place hay-bird1802 hay-jacka1825 hole-nester1938 1938 Brit. Birds 32 31 In similar experiments with another hole-nester..the male attacked the male mount but..ignored the female mount. hole-proof adj. that will not wear into holes. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > [adjective] > protection or proof against something windproof1616 winterproof1650 burglar-proof1856 hole-proof1913 shatter-proof1936 blast-proof1940 1913 Work 17 May 102 A..cloth that will not tear—in fact, is hole-proof. 1915 Truth LXXVIII. 848/1 Another customer tells me her experience in regard to some ‘hole-proof’ hose. 1962 Economist 2 June 897/1 Stockings..to be ladderproof, although not holeproof. hole saw n. = crown saw n. at crown n. Compounds 3a. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > cutting tool > saw > [noun] > crown-saw crown saw1749 trepan saw1839 hole saw1961 1961 Webster's 3rd New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. Hole saw. 1967 Catal. Black & Decker Powertools A drill with power to spare... Will drive holesaws up to 1½″ dia. Draft additions 1997 hole-in-the-wall n. colloquial, chiefly British an automatic teller machine installed in the (outside) wall of a bank or other building. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > financial dealings > banking > [noun] > cash dispenser money teller1594 cash machine1890 bank machine1920 teller machine1921 automatic teller1924 automatic teller machine1967 cash dispenser1967 automated teller machine1973 cashpoint1973 money machine1973 ATM1975 hole-in-the-wall1985 1985 Guardian 9 Feb. 24 (heading) Just ask at the hole in the wall. 1987 Today 18 Feb. 23/3 Three [banks], along with Bank of Scotland..are set to unveil their joint hole-in-the-wall cash machine network. 1989 Times 30 Aug. 23/2 ‘Phantom’ cash withdrawals from hole-in-the-wall dispensers are the biggest grievance. 1992 Independent 23 Apr. 2/1 They believe the men may be responsible for several early-morning ‘hole-in-the-wall’ raids in London and Kent. Draft additions October 2001 hole punch n. any of various devices for piercing a hole or holes in materials, esp. for punching holes in paper, so as to allow for binding or filing (cf. hole-puncher n. at Compounds 4); (also U.S.) a small, round piece of paper punched out by such a device. ΚΠ 1929 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 24 Dec. 805/1 Chisels, gouges, wood-carving knives, shoemakers' knives, hole punches, paring knives, pincers, nippers, [etc.]. 1937 Horder's Stationery, Office Equipm. & Furnit. 215/2 A strong round hole punch intended for steady use. 1967 J. A. Wiens in Ecology 48 1007/2 A 6 mm aperture (the size of a standard paper hole punch). 1981 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 2 Aug. i. 3/1 The most feared sanction is the hole punch. Standard equipment for traffic officers, it can be used on the spot to perforate a driver's license. 1985 Catal. Sale Horse-drawn Vehicles (Thimbleby & Shorland) 6 Mar. 16 Pair of unusual small boot-pulls with hinged handles incorporating a button hook, hole punch, awl and screwdriver. 1996 Independent 4 Apr. ii. 17/2 The 146th item is my hole punch, used to put work into their personal portfolios. 2000 Arlington (Texas) Morning News (Electronic ed.) 21 Apr. You can buy confetti at a craft store, make your own with hole punches and colored paper or obtain leftover hole punches from local printers. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online June 2022). holev.¹ Brit. /həʊl/, U.S. /hoʊl/ Forms: Old English holian, Middle English holien, Middle English hoole(n, 1600s hoale, Scottish hoile (oi = ō), Middle English– hole. Etymology: Old English holian to hollow out, excavate = Old High German holôn , Gothic hulôn , < hol- , holl adj. I. To make a hole. 1. a. transitive. To hollow out; to make a hole or cavity in; to perforate, pierce. ΘΚΠ the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > hollowness > make hollow [verb (transitive)] holec1000 mine?a1425 hollowc1450 cave?1541 raven1560 excave1578 excavate1599 exconcavate1599 the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > making holes or becoming holed > make (an opening or hole) [verb (transitive)] > make an opening or hole in or into holec1000 openOE to make way1581 perforate?1660 to make (also have) the sun shine through1679 ventilate1917 c1000 Ælfric Homilies II. 162 Ða gebroðra..gemetton ðone clud ða iu swætende; and hi ða hwæthwega holodon. c1330 R. Mannyng Chron. Wace (Rolls) 6836 Þe wal þey holede. c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 243/1 Holyn, or boryn (P. hoolen, or make hoolys), cavo, perforo, terebro. 1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball vi. lviii. 746 Before they be holed or pearsed. 1648 G. Markham Country Housew. Garden (1668) iii. x. 77 I use..a piece of wood hoal'd. 1864 Standard 29 Nov. 3/3 She [the ship] has holed her bottom. 1890 Times 27 Dec. 9/1 Some 80 miles of the route already holed [for telegraph posts]. b. To make holes in (the earth) in agriculture; to dibble; to dig trenches for planting sugar canes. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > planting > plant plants [verb (transitive)] > make hole with dibble dibble1582 hole1756 dab1787 strike1797 1756 P. Browne Civil & Nat. Hist. Jamaica ii. ii. 130 You begin to hole, and continue to open the ground gradually. 1842 J. W. Orderson Creoleana i. 5 Occasionally ‘holing’ his neighbours' fields. 1890 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 15 Aug. 827/2 Preliminary to the all-important progressive step in coffee culture, that of transplanting, is ‘holing’. c. To fire a bullet into. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > ill health > injury > injure [verb (transitive)] > wound > wound with missile shootc893 shoot1297 feather1415 to shoot (a person, thing) through1535 daga1572 pistol1598 lace1622 to shoot‥through and througha1648 pink1661 pop1762 plump1785 wing1802 drill1808 rifle1821 leg1829 hole1847 shot1855 blunderbuss1870 riddle1874 pip1900 slot1987 society > armed hostility > military equipment > operation and use of weapons > action of propelling missile > discharge of firearms > fire (a gun) [verb (transitive)] > shoot (a person or thing) > pierce or riddle riddle1511 to shoot (a person, thing) through1535 lace1622 to shoot‥through and througha1648 pink1661 hole1847 1847 A. Trollope Macdermots I. iv. 59 We'll hole him till there ar'nt a bit left in him to hole. a1882 A. Trollope Land-leaguers (1883) I. ii. 34 Keep yourself from being holed as they holed Muster Bingham the other day. 2. To sink (a shaft), drive (a tunnel) through. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > earth-moving, etc. > [verb (transitive)] > make tunnel mine1555 ferret1582 hole1708 tunnel1865 society > occupation and work > industry > mining > mine [verb (transitive)] > excavate or sink a shaft or tunnel drive1665 hole1708 to put down1778 shank1821 drift1849 1708 J. C. Compl. Collier 3 in T. Nourse Mistery of Husbandry Discover'd (ed. 3) We design to hole our Pit. 1816 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 129 The Tunnel..was, after thirteen years' incessant labour, holed..with great accuracy. 1870 Daily News 30 Nov. Next week this shaft will be holed to the 100 fathom level. 3. Mining. To undercut (the coal) in a seam so as to release it from the other strata. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > mining > mine [verb (transitive)] > cut (coal) > specific method hole1829 pool1839 undercut1883 underhole1891 overcut1907 plough1950 1829 S. Glover Hist. County of Derby I. 58 A set of colliers, called holers, who begin in the right and hole or undermine all the bank or face of the coal. 1861 Temple Bar 3 137 The collier a hundred fathoms down..holing under the coal. 1867 W. W. Smyth Treat. Coal & Coal-mining xi. 127 In breaking down or getting the coal, the first operation is to bench, kirve, or hole it along the bottom of the seam. 4. intransitive. To make a hole or holes; to dig. Esp. in Mining: to make a hole through from one working to another. ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > making holes or becoming holed > become or make perforated [verb (intransitive)] > make (a) hole(s) hole?c1225 ?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 104 Þe wið hare lustes ne holieð naut dunewart ase doð þe foxes. 1303 R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne 10736 Þys mynur..wroȝt on a day, and holed yn þe hyl. 1708 J. C. Compl. Collier 18 in T. Nourse Mistery of Husbandry Discover'd (ed. 3) They frequently hole, or cut through from one Board to another. 1890 Argus (Melbourne) 29 May 9/8 From the bottom of the workings they sank 7 ft...and holed through to the crosscut. II. To put or go into a hole. 5. transitive. To put into a hole; to put in prison; to plant (sugar canes) in holes or trenches. ΘΚΠ society > authority > punishment > imprisonment > imprison [verb (transitive)] beclosec1000 setc1100 steekc1175 prison?c1225 adightc1275 imprison1297 laya1325 keepc1330 presentc1380 locka1400 throwc1422 commise1480 clapc1530 shop1548 to lay up1565 incarcerate1575 embar1590 immure1598 hole1608 trunk1608 to keep (a person) darka1616 carceir1630 enjaila1631 pocket1631 bridewell1733 bastille1745 cage1805 quod1819 bag1824 carcerate1839 to send down1840 jug1841 slough1848 to send up1852 to put away1859 warehouse1881 roundhouse1889 smug1896 to bang up1950 the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > hide, conceal [verb (transitive)] > underground begraveOE gravec1369 terrec1440 whelvec1440 earth1591 hole1608 the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > cultivation of specific crops > [verb (transitive)] > processes in sugar-cane growing trash1793 mattress1850 hole1866 1608 T. Middleton Mad World, my Masters iv. sig. G2^v She could not indure the sight of a man forsooth, but run and hole her selfe presently. 1618 J. Taylor True Cause Watermens Suit in Wks. (1872) 14 So their prodigal sons are holed in some loathsome jail. 1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) (at cited word) ‘To hole a person’, to send him to gaol. 1866 Morning Star 27 Sept. 4/5 To work hard in holing canes or in throwing out trenches. 6. a. spec. in Golf, Billiards, Bagatelle. To drive (the ball) into a hole or pocket. Also to hole out. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > billiards, pool, or snooker > [verb (transitive)] > play (the ball) in specific way hazard1674 string1680 miss1746 pocket1756 hole1803 spot1844 nurse1850 draw1860 pot1860 hold1869 dribble1873 fluke1881 scratch1909 society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > play golf [verb (transitive)] > hole the ball to hole out1857 hole1894 sink1911 ace1929 1803 M. Charlton Wife & Mistress (ed. 2) I. 264 He contrived to hole both white and red ball at the next stroke. 1819 A. Rees Cycl. IV. at Billiards If the striker holes his adversary's ball, or forces it over the table, or on a cushion..he loses two points. 1857 Chambers's Information for People (new ed.) II. 693/2 (Golf) The best club for holing out the ball. 1880 Boy's Own Bk. (new ed.) 633 Bagatelle..The object..is to ‘hole’ the balls. 1883 Standard 16 Nov. 5/2 The number of strokes he requires to take before ‘holeing’ the ball [at golf]. 1889 W. T. Linskill Golf 45 If..the ball rest against the flag-stick when in the hole, the player shall be entitled to have the stick removed, and if the ball fall in, it shall be considered as holed out. b. absol. Golf. To drive the ball into a hole. to hole (out) in one: to achieve a ‘hole in one’ (see hole n. 4a); also figurative. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > play golf [verb (intransitive)] > hole the ball hole1867 ace1998 society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > play golf [verb (intransitive)] > score to hole (out) in one1867 1867 Cornhill Mag. Apr. 492 The deadly accuracy with which they approach the hole, and ‘hole out’, as it is called. 1886 ‘Stonehenge’ Man. Brit. Rural Sports (ed. 16) 754/2 He who succeeds in holeing in fewer strokes than his opponent wins that hole. 1928 D. L. Sayers Unpleasantness at Bellona Club xii. 141 ‘I say we shall find a long scratch on the paint,’ said Parker... ‘Holed it in one, Charles.’ 1939 ‘N. Blake’ Smiler with Knife iii. 49 ‘Oh, E.B. The E.B. printed on the flag we found in that locker?’ ‘Holed out in one.’ 1971 Daily Tel. 12 June 1/5 John Hudson made golfing history in the Martini tournament..yesterday, holing in one at successive holes. c. Golf. To drive the ball into (a hole). ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > golf > play golf [verb (transitive)] > hole the ball to hole out1857 hole1894 sink1911 ace1929 1894 Westm. Gaz. 29 Sept. 7/1 Mr. W. T. Griffin holed the eighth hole of the..links—100 yards—in one. 7. intransitive. To go into a hole. to hole up, (a) to retire to a hole for hibernation; also, to seek shelter, to seek (temporary) quarters; (b) to lie in wait or in ambush, to hide (chiefly U.S. slang). ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > hide, lie or hidden [verb (intransitive)] > go into hiding to take squat1583 cavea1616 hole1631 to go to earth1820 the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > a secret place, hiding place > be or hide in secret place [verb (intransitive)] squata1425 den1610 hole1828 to hole up1890 the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > [verb (intransitive)] > go to earth (of fox) hole1828 society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabiting temporarily > [verb (intransitive)] liec1000 harbourc1200 sojournc1290 layc1300 sojourc1330 to make, take (up) one's lodging1362 pilgrimagea1382 bield?a1400 lodgec1400 tarryc1400 to make (one's) residence1433 harbingec1475 harbry1513 stay1554 roost?1555 embower1591 quarter1591 leaguer1596 allodge1601 tenta1616 visit1626 billet1628 to lie abroad1650 tabernacle1653 sojourney1657 canton1697 stop1797 to shake down1858 to hole up1875 perendinate1886 shack1935 cotch1950 the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > refuge or shelter > take or seek refuge [verb (intransitive)] bield?a1400 to hide one's headc1475 shroud1579 subterfuge1622 refuge1640 to take refuge1667 haven1742 to go to earth1820 to hole up1875 the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > hide, lie or hidden [verb (intransitive)] > remain in hiding lurkc1300 to hide one's headc1475 mitch1558 nestle1567 to lie at (on, upon the) lurch1578 to lay low1600 skulk1626 squat1658 to lie by1709 hide1872 to hole up1875 to lie low1880 to lie (also play) doggo1882 to hide out1884 to put the lid on1966 the world > animals > by habits or actions > habits and actions > [verb (intransitive)] > hibernate latibulize1802 hibernate1816 to den up1843 to hole up1890 the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > hostile action or attack > make attack [verb (intransitive)] > lie in wait siteOE wait?c1225 aspya1250 awaita1250 keepc1275 to sit in wait(s)a1300 lurkc1300 bush1330 to lie at (the) waitc1440 to lie on waitc1440 to lie wait1445 lay one's wait1535 hugger1567 to lie at (on, upon the) lurch1578 couch1582 ambuscade1592 to lie (also stand, stay, etc.) perdu1624 to lie at (or upon the) snap1631 ambush1638 to hole up1912 1631 B. Jonson Staple of Newes v. ii. 88 in Wks. II Wi' your worming braine.., Which I shall see you hole with, very shortly. A fine round head, when those two lugs are off, To trundle through a Pillory. 1631 B. Jonson Bartholmew Fayre iv. vi. 66 in Wks. II Come put in his legge in the middle roundell, and let him hole there. 1688 T. Shadwell Squire of Alsatia v. i. 72 The Rogue is hol'd somewhere. 1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) Hole, to earth as a fox. 1875 J. Burroughs Winter Sunshine 279 Only five days was I compelled to ‘hole up’ in my state-room. 1878 Scribner's Monthly 15 303/1 The fox..has run to earth, or, as we have it, ‘has holed’. 1890 L. C. D'Oyle Notches Rough Edge Life 70 It was getting time for the bears to ‘hole-up’. 1910 Mrs. H. Ward Canadian Born ix. 181 I'm a poor old broken-down..miner, who wants to hole-up somewhere, and get comfortable for his old age. 1912 C. E. Mulford & J. W. Clay Buck Peters, Ranchman xxvi. 340 Go slow, Tex; mebby he's holin' up on us, like he did on Buck. 1924 C. E. Mulford Rustlers' Valley xii. 141 Now you'll mebby have to take to th' hills an' hole up just when I need you most. 1925 C. E. Mulford Cottonwood Gulch xvi. 218 It would have been only a matter of a few minutes before they would have forced him to abandon the horse and to hole up on the defensive, to make a losing fight. 1929 W. Faulkner Sartoris iv. 282 Hole up here, you potlickin' fool. 1929 D. Hammett Red Harvest xviii. 179 You'll have to..take a plant on Willsson's... I hear whisper Thaler's holing-up there. 1939 R. Chandler Big Sleep xxvii. 240 That's the place where she's holed up. 1951 S. Lewis World so Wide xii. 135 We've got to begin thinking about holing up for the night. 1952 P. G. Wodehouse Pigs have Wings ix. 178 The poltergeist, for such he assumed it to be, appeared to have holed up behind the door that led presumably to the kitchen. 1954 ‘N. Blake’ Whisper in Gloom ii. xiv. 194 I bet you Elmer's holed up in Harwich, or somewhere near it. 1961 G. Greene Burnt-out Case ii. iii. 37 Who would expect to find the Querry holed up in a leproserie? 1973 ‘D. Jordan’ Nile Green xlv. 234 We were holed up in the flat, drinking Gold Star beer. †III. To become full of holes. 8. intransitive. To become full of holes. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > making holes or becoming holed > become or make perforated [verb (intransitive)] > become full of holes hole1611 1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Se Trouër, to hole, to grow full of holes. IV. To mark or record with a hole. 9. transitive. To record by punching a hole in an allotted space in a card. ΘΚΠ society > computing and information technology > hardware > secondary storage > punch [verb (transitive)] hole1911 pre-punch1947 overpunch1973 keypunch1975 1911 Chambers's Jrnl. May 335/2 Not only are the old-time data, such as age,..‘holed’ into the card, but whether you are married or single. 1911 Chambers's Jrnl. May 336/2 In this machine the data ‘holed’ in every tag can be all or partly recorded on another form. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online March 2022). † holev.² Forms: Old English hólian, Middle English holen. Etymology: Old English hólian, cognate with Gothic hôlôn to treat with violence; compare Old High German huolan to deceive. Obsolete. a. transitive. To oppress. ΚΠ c1000 Lambeth Psalter cxviii[i]. 121 Ne sele ðu me holiendum me [L. calumniantibus me]. b. intransitive. To commit oppression. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > oppression > oppress [verb (intransitive)] holec1175 thringc1175 domineer1591 tyrannizea1593 ingrate1600 oppress1611 magistrate1623 tyranny1650 c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 9319 Þatt holeþþ o þe laȝhe leod. & rippeþþ hemm. & ræfeþþ. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online March 2021). < n.c725v.¹c1000v.²c1000
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holen.

Phrases

Compounds

Draft additions 1997

Draft additions October 2001

holev.1

† holev.2

holev.¹

† holev.²