Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One that is held over from an earlier time.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A place of detention; a lock-up.
  • noun An office-holder who remains in office, or in possession, beyond his regular term: sometimes used attributively.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Any person or thing remaining from a previous period of use, tenure, etc

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Something left behind, saved or remaining from an earlier time.
  • noun The distance (at target) by which a rifle scope is aimed higher than the intended point of impact in order to compensate for bullet drop over the distance to the target.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb keep in a position or state from an earlier period of time
  • verb continue a term of office past the normal period of time
  • verb intimidate somebody (with a threat)
  • verb hold back to a later time
  • verb hold over goods to be sold for the next season
  • noun something that has survived from the past
  • noun an official who remains in office after his term

Etymologies

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Examples

  • TCR: Their government is sort of a holdover from a largely bygone era when many nations were communists, so isn't it true that they need to maintain some fairly strong forward momentum, otherwise they could run into some political problems?

    Vitaliy N. Katsenelson: Shadow Over Asia Vitaliy N. Katsenelson 2010

  • TCR: Their government is sort of a holdover from a largely bygone era when many nations were communists, so isn't it true that they need to maintain some fairly strong forward momentum, otherwise they could run into some political problems?

    Vitaliy N. Katsenelson: Shadow Over Asia Vitaliy N. Katsenelson 2010

  • And the whole pink triangle thing is just a holdover from the concentration camp era.

    Rainbows Aren’t Gay | My[confined]Space 2009

  • TCR: Their government is sort of a holdover from a largely bygone era when many nations were communists, so isn't it true that they need to maintain some fairly strong forward momentum, otherwise they could run into some political problems?

    Vitaliy N. Katsenelson: Shadow Over Asia Vitaliy N. Katsenelson 2010

  • The soft whine which breathed lightly through the PA system, a holdover from the previous administration, cut off before she had the opportunity to activate the shutdown sequence.

    NaNoWriMo: Nightmare At The Museum « The Graveyard 2009

  • President-elect Barack Obama will be keeping another holdover from the Bush administration on his national security team — Lt.Gen. Douglas E. Lute, who will keep his job coordinating Iraq and Afghanistan policy out of the National Security Council, according to transition officials.

    War Czar for Bush to Keep His Job - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com 2009

  • Is equal representation by jurisdiction in the US senate a holdover from the holy roman empire, just like the US electoral college?

    Matthew Yglesias » Ungovernable America 2009

  • Lute, too, is a holdover from the Bush administration - although not a member of the Pentagon phalanx.

    Michael Brenner: HuffPost Review: Obama's Wars Michael Brenner 2010

  • Apparently it's a holdover from the time when investment banks were partnerships and the firm's partners shared in the income or loss of the partnership, which couldn't be determined till year's end.

    Breaking bad contracts 2009

  • TCR: Their government is sort of a holdover from a largely bygone era when many nations were communists, so isn't it true that they need to maintain some fairly strong forward momentum, otherwise they could run into some political problems?

    Vitaliy N. Katsenelson: Shadow Over Asia Vitaliy N. Katsenelson 2010

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