Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
verb
To detain, hold back, or hold up (someone or something); also, to retain or withhold (something).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, rare, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
From Middle English forholden (“to withhold; to keep (a corpse) unburied”) [and other forms], from Old English forhealdan (“to keep or hold back (something), withhold; to hold away; to disregard, neglect; to hold wrongly, not to keep in good condition”), from for- (prefix meaning ‘away from; wrongly’) + healdan (“to grasp, hold fast; to possess”) (from Proto-West Germanic *haldan (“to hold; to keep”), from Proto-Germanic *haldaną (“to hold; to keep”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover; to conceal, hide”)). The English word is analysable as for- + hold, and is cognate with Danish forholde (“to relate”), Dutch verhouden (“to relate”), Low German vorholden (“to detain”), German verhalten (“to control, restrain”), Norwegian forholde (“to deal”).
