hole

noun

1. 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.

   To be called into a huge sphere, and not to be seen to move in't, are the holes where eyes should be, which pitifully disaster the cheeks.

   Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.

2. 2

   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.

   The priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid.

   […]her palfrey’s footfall shot Light horrors thro’ her pulses: the blind walls Were full of chinks and holes; and overhead Fantastic gables, crowding, stared:[…]

3. 3

   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.

4. 4

   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.

5. 5

   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.

6. 6

   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.

7. 7

   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.

8. 8

   In games. In the game of fives, part of the floor of the court between the step and the pepperbox.

9. 9

   slangAn excavation pit or trench.

10. 10

    figurativeA weakness; a flaw or ambiguity.

    I have found a hole in your argument.

    But between the drinks and subtle things / The holes in my apologies, you know / I’m trying hard to take it back

11. 11

    In semiconductors, a lack of an electron in an occupied band behaving like a positively charged particle.

12. 12

    A security vulnerability in software which can be taken advantage of by an exploit.

13. 13

    slangAny bodily orifice. A person's mouth.

    Just shut your hole!

14. 14

    slangAny bodily orifice. The anus.

15. 15

    slangAny bodily orifice. The vagina.

16. 16

    A woman.

17. 17

    informalSolitary confinement, a high-security prison cell often used as punishment.

    In late December a Washington State prisoner was involved in a scuffle with a guard who was trying to take him into the hole.

    Disciplinary actions can range from a mere write up to serious time in the hole.

18. 18

    slangAn undesirable place to live or visit.

    His apartment is a hole!

    I have often heard people say, "One can't live upon a view," and I have heard some of the most beautiful places called "awful holes," simply because of the monotonous lives led in them.

19. 19

    figurativeDifficulty, in particular, debt.

    If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

    "Don't you see the hole it has put me into? […] Of course it was too late to have any alteration printed on the first night and now Miss Roscastle is the draw of the piece.

20. 20

    A chordless cycle in a graph.

21. 21

    slangA passing loop; a siding provided for trains traveling in opposite directions on a single-track line to pass each other.

    We’re supposed to take the hole at Cronk and wait for the Limited to pass.

22. 22

    historicalA mountain valley.

    Jackson Hole

verb

1. 1

   To make holes in (an object or surface).

   Shrapnel holed the ship's hull.

2. 2

   To destroy.

   She completely holed the argument.

3. 3

   To go into a hole.

   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!

4. 4

   To drive into a hole, as an animal, or a billiard ball or golf ball.

   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.

   Woods holed a standard three foot putt

5. 5

   To cut, dig, or bore a hole or holes in.

   to hole a post for the insertion of rails or bars

adjective

1. 1

   Variant of wholeobsoleteObsolete spelling of whole.

   Such was the arrangement of the alphabet over the hole North.

2. 2

   Variant of wholeMisspelling of whole.

Forms

plural

holes

comparative

holer, more hole

superlative

holest, most hole

past tense

holed

past participle

holed

present participle

holing

third person singular

holes