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Hole

//həʊl// adj, name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Adjective

1
Obsolete spelling of whole. alt-of, obsolete
"Such was the arrangement of the alphabet over the hole North."
2
Misspelling of whole. alt-of, misspelling

Proper Noun

1
A surname.

Noun

1
A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; a dent; a depression; a fissure.
"I made a blind hole in the wall for a peg. I dug a hole and planted a tree in it."
2
an opening deliberately made in or through something wordnet
3
An opening that goes all the way through a solid body, a fabric, etc.; a perforation; a rent.
"There’s a hole in my shoe. Her stocking has a hole in it."
4
one playing period (from tee to green) on a golf course wordnet
5
In games.; 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.

Show 24 more definitions

6
informal terms for the mouth wordnet
7
In games.; The part of a game in which a player attempts to hit the ball into one of the holes.
"I played 18 holes yesterday. The second hole today cost me three strokes over par."
8
an opening into or through something wordnet
9
In games.; The rear portion of the defensive team between the shortstop and the third baseman.
"The shortstop ranged deep into the hole to make the stop."
10
a depression hollowed out of solid matter wordnet
11
In games.; A square on the board, with some positional significance, that a player does not, and cannot in the future, control with a friendly pawn.
12
an unoccupied space wordnet
13
In games.; 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.
14
informal terms for a difficult situation wordnet
15
In games.; In the game of fives, part of the floor of the court between the step and the pepperbox.
16
a fault wordnet
17
An excavation pit or trench. slang
18
A weakness; a flaw or ambiguity. figuratively
"I have found a hole in your argument."
19
In semiconductors, a lack of an electron in an occupied band behaving like a positively charged particle.
20
A security vulnerability in software which can be taken advantage of by an exploit.
21
A person's mouth. derogatory, slang
"Just shut your hole!"
22
Any bodily orifice, in particular the anus. slang
23
A vagina. Ireland, Scotland, vulgar
24
Solitary confinement, a high-security prison cell often used as punishment. informal, with-definite-article
"In late December a Washington State prisoner was involved in a scuffle with a guard who was trying to take him into the hole."
25
An undesirable place to live or visit. slang
"His apartment is a hole!"
26
Difficulty, in particular, debt. figuratively
"If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging."
27
A chordless cycle in a graph.
28
A passing loop; a siding provided for trains traveling in opposite directions on a single-track line to pass each other. slang
"We’re supposed to take the hole at Cronk and wait for the Limited to pass."
29
A mountain valley. Canada, US, historical
"Jackson Hole"

Verb

1
To make holes in (an object or surface). transitive
"Shrapnel holed the ship's hull."
2
make holes in wordnet
3
To destroy. broadly, transitive
"She completely holed the argument."
4
hit the ball into the hole wordnet
5
To go into a hole. intransitive
"Good master Picklock, with your worming brain, And wriggling engine-head of maintenance, Which I shall see you hole with very shortly! A fine round head, when those two lugs are off, To trundle through a pillory!"

Show 2 more definitions

6
To drive into a hole, as an animal, or a billiard ball or golf ball. transitive
"If the player holes the red ball, he scores three, and upon holing his adversary's ball, he gains two; and thus it frequently happens, that seven are got upon a single stroke, by caramboling and holing both balls."
7
To cut, dig, or bore a hole or holes in. transitive
"to hole a post for the insertion of rails or bars"

Etymology

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.

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

Various origins: * English topographic surname for someone who lived by a depression, from Old English holh (“hole”), from Proto-West Germanic *hulwī, from Proto-Germanic *hulwiją. * Borrowed from Norwegian Hole, a habitational surname from Old Norse hóll (“round hill, mound”). * Shortened form of Dutch van Hole, a habitational surname from hol (“hole, depression, cavity”).

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