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hold-up. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
hold-up, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
hold-up in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
hold-up you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
Deverbal from hold up.
Noun
hold-up (plural hold-ups)
- (colloquial) A delay or wait.
- Synonyms: cunctation, holdoff; see also Thesaurus:delay
What is the hold-up?
- A robbery at gunpoint.
- Synonyms: armed robbery, stickup
This is a hold-up! Give us all your money.
1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 , New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 168:They didn't get shot to death in hold-ups, strangled to death in rapes, stabbed to death in saloons, bludgeoned to death with axes by parents or children or die summarily by some other act of God.
- (bridge) The holding back of a card that could win a trick in order to use it later.
1974, Terence Reese, Master Play in Contract Bridge, page 75:This was another hand on which a holdup caused declarer to lose control and to go down in a sensational way: […]
2014, Nicolae Sfetcu, The Bridge Game:In a holdup, a player delays taking a trick until opponents' entries are reduced.
- (in the plural) Women's stockings designed to be worn without suspenders.
- (military) The inventory of nuclear material within a separation plant.
- 1978, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Armed Services. Intelligence and Military Application of Nuclear Energy Subcommittee, Hearings on H.R. 11036 (H.R. 11686) (page 361)
- And to the left is a portable gamma counter that tells us the holdup of plutonium recovery facilities.
1989, Energy Research Abstracts, page 2046:During process operations and temporary shutdown, the holdup within the facility is also known as the in-process inventory.
- (Nigeria) A traffic jam.
Derived terms
Descendants
Translations
(in the plural) Women's stockings designed to be worn without suspenders
Anagrams
French
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from English hold-up.
Pronunciation
Noun
hold-up m (plural hold-up)
- hold-up (robbery)
1968, Serge Gainsbourg (lyrics and music), “Hold Up”, in Initials B.B., performed by Serge Gainsbourg ft. Madeline Bell:Je suis venu pour te voler / Cent millions de baisers / […] / C’est un hold-up ! / Eh ouais, c’est un hold-up !- I came to steal / a hundred million kisses from you / / This is a hold-up! / Oh yes, it's a hold-up!
Further reading