hole
pronunciation
How to pronounce hole in British English:
UK [həʊl]
How to pronounce hole in American English:
US [hoʊl]
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- Noun:
- an opening into or through something
- an opening deliberately made in or through something
- one playing period (from tee to green) on a golf course
- an unoccupied space
- a depression hollowed out of solid matter
- a fault
- informal terms for a difficult situation
- informal terms for the mouth
-
- Verb:
- hit the ball into the hole
- make holes in
Word Origin
- hole
- hole: [OE] Etymologically, a hole is a ‘hollow’ place. It originated as a noun use of the Old English adjective hol ‘hollow’ which, together with German hohl, Dutch hol, and Danish hul, all meaning ‘hollow’, goes back to a prehistoric German *khulaz. The source of this is disputed, but it may be related to Indo-European *kel- ‘cover, hide’ (source of English apocalypse, cell, cellar, conceal, hall, hell, helmet, hull ‘pod’, and occult). The semantic connection is presumably that a place that is ‘deep’ or ‘hollowed out’ is also ‘hidden’.=> apocalypse, cell, conceal, hall, hell, helmet, occult
- hole (n.)
- Old English hol "orifice, hollow place, cave, perforation," from Proto-Germanic *hul (cognates: Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Old High German hol, Middle Dutch hool, Old Norse holr, German hohl "hollow," Gothic us-hulon "to hollow out"), from PIE root *kel- (2) "to cover, conceal" (see cell). As a contemptuous word for "small dingy lodging or abode" it is attested from 1610s. Meaning "a fix, scrape, mess" is from 1760. Obscene slang use for "vulva" is implied from mid-14c. Hole in the wall "small and unpretentious place" is from 1822; to hole up first recorded 1875. To need (something) like a hole in the head, applied to something useless or detrimental, first recorded 1944 in entertainment publications, probably a translation of a Yiddish expression such as ich darf es vi a loch in kop.
- hole (v.)
- "to make a hole," Old English holian "to hollow out, scoop out" (see hole (n.)). Related: Holed; holing.
Example
- 1. The skulls had a hole drilled into the forehead .
- 2. This is the biggest hole in cheney 's book .
- 3. Go through the hole in the housing , if necessary .
- 4. Inviting more foreigners to invest in india would help sentiment and plug the current-account hole .
- 5. How to get out of this hole ?