English Online Dictionary. What means hole? What does hole mean?
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /həʊl/, [hɔʊɫ]
- (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA(key): /hɐʉl/, [hɔʊɫ]
- (General American) IPA(key): /hoʊl/, [hoɫ]
- Rhymes: -əʊl
- Homophone: whole
Etymology 1
Inherited from Middle English hole, hol, from Old English hol (“orifice, hollow place, cavity”), from Proto-West Germanic *hol, from Proto-Germanic *hulą (“hollow space, cavity”), noun derivative of Proto-Germanic *hulaz (“hollow”), which is of uncertain ultimate origin. Related to hollow.
Noun
hole (plural holes)
- A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; a dent; a depression; a fissure.
- An opening that goes all the way through a solid body, a fabric, etc.; a perforation; a rent.
- (heading) In games.
- (golf) A subsurface standard-size hole, also called cup, hitting the ball into which is the object of play. Each hole, of which there are usually eighteen as the standard on a full course, is located on a prepared surface, called the green, of a particular type grass.
- (golf) The part of a game in which a player attempts to hit the ball into one of the holes.
- (baseball) The rear portion of the defensive team between the shortstop and the third baseman.
- (chess) A square on the board, with some positional significance, that a player does not, and cannot in the future, control with a friendly pawn.
- (stud poker) A card (also called a hole card) dealt face down thus unknown to all but its holder; the status in which such a card is.
- In the game of fives, part of the floor of the court between the step and the pepperbox.
- (archaeology, slang) An excavation pit or trench.
- (figuratively) A weakness; a flaw or ambiguity.
- (Can we verify(+) this sense?) (informal) A container or receptacle.
- (physics) In semiconductors, a lack of an electron in an occupied band behaving like a positively charged particle.
- (computing) A security vulnerability in software which can be taken advantage of by an exploit.
- (slang, derogatory) A person's mouth.
- (slang) Any bodily orifice, in particular the anus.
- (Ireland, Scotland, vulgar) A vagina.
- (informal, with "the") Solitary confinement, a high-security prison cell often used as punishment.
- Synonym: box
- (slang) An undesirable place to live or visit.
- (figurative) Difficulty, in particular, debt.
- (graph theory) A chordless cycle in a graph.
- (slang, rail transport) A passing loop; a siding provided for trains traveling in opposite directions on a single-track line to pass each other.
- (Canada, US, historical) A mountain valley.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:hole
- (solitary confinement): administrative segregation, ad-seg, block (UK), box, cooler (UK), hotbox, lockdown, pound, SCU, security housing unit, SHU, special handling unit
Derived terms
Descendants
- → Japanese: ホール (hōru)
- → Korean: 홀 (hol)
- Sranan Tongo: olo
Translations
Verb
hole (third-person singular simple present holes, present participle holing, simple past and past participle holed)
- (transitive) To make holes in (an object or surface).
- (transitive, by extension) To destroy.
- (intransitive) To go into a hole.
- (transitive) To drive into a hole, as an animal, or a billiard ball or golf ball.
- (transitive) To cut, dig, or bore a hole or holes in.
- to hole a post for the insertion of rails or bars
Derived terms
Translations
Etymology 2
Adjective
hole (comparative holer or more hole, superlative holest or most hole)
- Obsolete spelling of whole.
- 1843, Sir George Webbe Dasent (translator), A grammar of the Icelandic or Old Norse tongue (originally by Rasmus Christian Rask)
- Such was the arrangement of the alphabet over the hole North.
- 1843, Sir George Webbe Dasent (translator), A grammar of the Icelandic or Old Norse tongue (originally by Rasmus Christian Rask)
- Misspelling of whole.
Anagrams
- Hoel, OHLE, helo, ohel, oleh
Czech
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈɦolɛ]
Etymology 1
Noun
hole
- inflection of hůl:
- genitive singular
- nominative/accusative/vocative plural
Etymology 2
Verb
hole
- masculine singular present transgressive of holit
German
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈhoːlə/
- Rhymes: -oːlə
Verb
hole
- inflection of holen:
- first-person singular present
- first/third-person singular subjunctive I
- singular imperative
Hausa
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /hóː.lèː/
- (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA(key): [hóː.lèː]
Verb
hōlḕ (grade 4)
- to relax, to enjoy oneself
Middle English
Etymology 1
Inherited from Old English hāl.
Adjective
hole
- healthy
- safe
- whole, complete, full
Alternative forms
- hol, ol, ole, hoal, hoale, hoel, hoil, hoille, holle, wholle
- hal, hale, halle (Northern)
References
- “hōl(e, adj.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Adverb
hole
- wholly
Alternative forms
- hol
References
- “hōl(e, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Noun
hole (plural holes)
- whole, entirety
- health
- remedy, cure
Alternative forms
- hol
References
- “hōl(e, n.(3).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Descendants
- English: whole
- Scots: hole, holl
- ⇒ Yola: haoleghey
Etymology 2
Inherited from Old English hol.
Noun
hole (plural holes or holen)
- hole
Alternative forms
- hol, ol, ole, holle, hoil, houl, hul
Descendants
- English: hole (see there for further descendants)
- Scots: hole
- Yola: hullès (plural)
References
- “hō̆l(e, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Etymology 3
Inherited from Old English hulu; see hull for more.
Noun
hole (plural holes)
- hull (the outer covering of a fruit or seed)
- hut, shelter
- hull (of a ship)
Alternative forms
- hol, holle, hul, hule, ule, hulle, ulle, hoile, huole
Descendants
- English: hull
- Scots: huil
References
- “hol(e, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Etymology 4
Alternative forms
- holn
Verb
hole
- past participle of helen (“to cover”)
- Synonym: heled
Etymology 5
Adjective
hole
- Alternative form of hol (“hollow”)
Etymology 6
Noun
hole (uncountable)
- Alternative form of oile (“oil”)
Etymology 7
Noun
hole (plural holen)
- Alternative form of oule (“owl”)
Etymology 8
Adjective
hole
- Alternative form of holy (“holy”)
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
Derived from Old Norse hola.
Noun
hole f or m (definite singular hola or holen, indefinite plural holer, definite plural holene)
- alternative form of hule
References
- “hole” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Alternative forms
- hòle
Etymology
Derived from Old Norse hola.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /²hoːlə/
Noun
hole f (definite singular hola, indefinite plural holer, definite plural holene)
- cave
- (anatomy) cavity
- den
Derived terms
References
- “hole” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Old English
Noun
hole
- dative singular of hol
Pennsylvania German
Etymology
Inherited from Middle High German holen, from Old High German holon, from Proto-West Germanic *holōn (“to fetch”). Compare German holen, Dutch halen. Related to English haul.
Verb
hole
- to fetch
Slovak
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈɦɔʎe]
Noun
hole f
- inflection of hoľa:
- genitive singular
- nominative/accusative plural
Sotho
Noun
hole class 17 (uncountable)
- far away
Yola
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /hɔːɫ/
- Homophone: haul
Verb
hole
- past participle of helt
References
- Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 47