hole

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“
A bolt-hole or bolting-hole is a hole by which to bolt or escape.

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Definitions (67)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (21)

  1. noun A hollowed place in something solid; a cavity or pit: dug a hole in the ground with a shovel.
  2. noun An opening or perforation: a hole in the clouds; had a hole in the elbow of my sweater.
  3. noun Sports An opening in a defensive formation, such as the area of a baseball infield between two adjacent fielders.
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Examples

  • A bolt-hole or bolting-hole is a hole by which to bolt or escape. —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol VI No 3
  • Black hole is intriguing, mysterious, evoking the thrill of cosmic infinity, whereas zwart gat is just a black hole -- if you see what I mean. —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol VI No 3
  • The others jumped in to help, and in a moment the lid covering a hole was all the way over and back. —  Phaze Doubt
  • Her favorite ace in the hole was her detective shield, and she'd had to give that up when she was suspended. —  Warning Signs
  • In the depths of this hole is a gold medallion which neighbors will identify as belonging to Narciso Soto, and which he lost while committing the crime. " —  Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
 

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Words tagged hole

vug · pinhole · creephole · earhole

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Hole has been looked up 375 times, favorited 0 times, listed 21 times, and commented on 0 times.

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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

spot ·  crack ·  cut ·  box ·  ring ·  chamber ·  pit ·  tunnel ·  rock ·  space ·  open ·  line
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English hol; see kel-1 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. I. a. from Middle English hol (rare), from Anglo-Saxon hol = OFries. hol = Old Dutch D. hol = Middle Low German hol, Low German holl = Old High German Middle High German hol, German hohl = Icelandic holr = Danish hul (Swedish hål-ig), adjective, hollow (an adjective replaced in English by hollow, which in Anglo-Saxon is exclusively a noun, Anglo-Saxon holh, holg, a hole, a hollow, apparently a derivative (with unusual formative -h) of the adjective hol), from the verb represented by Anglo-Saxon helan (past participle holen), Middle English helen, English heal, hide, cover, = Latin celare, hide, conceal: see heal, hell, hell, hollow, holk, etc., and conceal, cell, etc. The Greek κοῑλος, hollow (see cælo-), goes with L. cavus (see cave, cage); it is not connected with hole or hollow. II. n. Early modern English also hoole, houle, howle; from Middle English hole, hool, hol, from Anglo-Saxon hol, a hole, hollow, cavity, cave, den, = OFries. hol = Old Dutch D. hol = Middle Low German hol, Low German holl = Old High German Middle High German hol = Icelandic hol = Swedish hål = Danish hul, a hole; orig. neuter of adjective; Anglo-Saxon also hola, masculine, = Old High German holi, Middle High German hüle, German höhle = Icelandic hola, feminine, = Danish hule = Swedish håla, a hole, a cave, cf. Gothic (Moesogothic) hulundi, a hollow, a cave; from the adjective See I.
  2. from Middle English holen, holien, from Anglo-Saxon holian, hollow out, make hollow, dig a hole (= Dutch uit-holen = German höhlen = Icelandic hola, make hollow, = Danish ud-hule = Gothic (Moesogothic) us-hulōn, hollow out, excavate), from hol, adjective, hollow, hol, n., a hole: see hole, a. and n., and cf. hollow, v.
 

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/hoʊl/
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