an opening through something; gap; aperture: a hole in the roof; a hole in my sock.
a hollow place in a solid body or mass; a cavity: a hole in the ground.
the excavated habitation of an animal; burrow.
a small, dingy, or shabby place: I couldn't live in a hole like that.
a place of solitary confinement; dungeon.
an embarrassing position or predicament: to find oneself in a hole.
a cove or small harbor.
a fault or flaw: They found serious holes in his reasoning.
a deep, still place in a stream: a swimming hole.
Sports.
a small cavity, into which a marble, ball, or the like is to be played.
a score made by so playing.
Golf.
the circular opening in a green into which the ball is to be played.
a part of a golf course from a tee to the hole corresponding to it, including fairway, rough, and hazards.
the number of strokes taken to hit the ball from a tee into the hole corresponding to it.
Informal. opening; slot: The radio program was scheduled for the p.m. hole. We need an experienced person to fill a hole in our accounting department.
Metalworking. (in wire drawing) one reduction of a section.
Electronics. a mobile vacancy in the electronic structure of a semiconductor that acts as a positive charge carrier and has equivalent mass.
Aeronautics. an air pocket that causes a plane or other aircraft to drop suddenly.
verb (used with object),holed,hol·ing.
to make a hole or holes in.
to put or drive into a hole.
Golf. to hit the ball into (a hole).
to bore (a tunnel, passage, etc.).
verb (used without object),holed,hol·ing.
to make a hole or holes.
Verb Phrases
hole out,Golf. to strike the ball into a hole: He holed out in five, one over par.
hole up,
to go into a hole; retire for the winter, as a hibernating animal.
to hide, as from pursuers, the police, etc.: The police think the bank robbers are holed up in Chicago.
Idioms for hole
burn a hole in one's pocket, to urge one to spend money quickly: His inheritance was burning a hole in his pocket.
hole in the wall, a small or confining place, especially one that is dingy, shabby, or out-of-the-way: Their first shop was a real hole in the wall.
in a / the hole,
in debt; in straitened circumstances: After Christmas I am always in the hole for at least a month.
Baseball, Softball.pitching or batting with the count of balls or balls and strikes to one's disadvantage, especially batting with a count of two strikes and one ball or none.
Stud Poker.being the card or one of the cards dealt face down in the first round: a king in the hole.
make a hole in, to take a large part of: A large bill from the dentist made a hole in her savings.
pick a hole / holes in, to find a fault or flaw in: As soon as I presented my argument, he began to pick holes in it.Also poke a hole / holes in.
Origin of hole
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English hol “hole, cave,” originally neuter of hol (adjective) hollow; cognate with German hohl “hollow”
SYNONYMS FOR hole
1, 2 pit, hollow, concavity.
3 den, cave; lair, retreat.
4 hovel, shack.
SEE SYNONYMS FOR hole ON THESAURUS.COM
synonym study for hole
1, 2. Hole,cavity,excavation refer to a hollow place in anything. Hole is the common word for this idea: a hole in turf.Cavity is a more formal or scientific term for a hollow within the body or in a substance, whether with or without a passage outward: a cavity in a tooth; the cranial cavity. An excavation is an extended hole made by digging out or removing material: an excavation before the construction of a building.
OTHER WORDS FROM hole
holeless,adjectiveholey,adjective
WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH hole
1. hole , whole2. holey , holy, wholly
Words nearby hole
holdup, holdup man, hold water, hold with, hold your, hole, hole-and-corner, hole card, hole-high, hole in one, hole in the heart
Turns out the watering hole is locally owned and has been around for more than 80 years.
The Last Bar Standing?|Eugene Robinson|September 15, 2020|Ozy
Many security holes can be fixed in time for November if states have the technical expertise to do so.
Voting by mail is more secure than the President says. How to make it even safer|matthewheimer|September 13, 2020|Fortune
It performed best in the crashing waves but could also be surfed in some of the small holes off the current.
The Gear You Need to Bring on a 225-Mile River Trip|Mitch Breton|September 6, 2020|Outside Online
It’s also important to remember that we’re still very, very deep in the hole we fell into in April, and that job growth in the private sector is slowing.
The Easy Part Of The Economic Recovery Might Be Over|Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux|September 4, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
Some sheaths include holes in their perimeter, allowing you weave paracord through them to create easily customizable mounts.
Three Questions to Ask Yourself Before Buying a Knife|Wes Siler|September 3, 2020|Outside Online
Instead of going for the hole, I hit the ball directly into the water.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art|Alec Kubas-Meyer|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
If the ball gets in the hole, the screen shifts to reveal the next hole.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art|Alec Kubas-Meyer|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Go for a hole in one, or maybe try to only use huge arcs to get it in.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art|Alec Kubas-Meyer|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In one sense that hole is indeed still there and will continue to be.
The Stacks: John Coltrane’s Mighty Musical Quest|Nat Hentoff|October 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
They cannot teach their children in the winter how to cut open a hole in the lake to drink water.
Our Trip to The Climate War's Ground Zero|Darren Aronofsky|September 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The cane, K K, is fastened by thread as in the diagram; the thread can pass through a hole in the cork.
Toy-Making in School and Home|Ruby Kathleen Polkinghorne and Mabel Irene Rutherford Polkinghorne
This hole was too high up to look through from the ground level.
The Lair of the White Worm|Bram Stoker
He went on with his work of making a hole large enough in the ceiling to let himself through to the room beneath.
Warriors of Old Japan and Other Stories|Yei Theodora Ozaki
With my stick through the hole, I had up the latch, and pushed the door open.
The Voodoo Gold Trail|Walter Walden
The dog stopped at the outside edge of the hole, and barked as loudly as he could.
Six Little Bunkers at Grandma Bell's|Laura Lee Hope
British Dictionary definitions for hole
hole
/ (həʊl) /
noun
an area hollowed out in a solid
an opening made in or through something
an animal's hiding place or burrow
informalan unattractive place, such as a town or a dwelling
informala cell or dungeon
USinformala small anchorage
a fault (esp in the phrase pick holes in)
slanga difficult and embarrassing situation
the cavity in various games into which the ball must be thrust
(on a golf course)
the cup on each of the greens
each of the divisions of a course (usually 18) represented by the distance between the tee and a green
the score made in striking the ball from the tee into the hole
physics
a vacancy in a nearly full band of quantum states of electrons in a semiconductor or an insulator. Under the action of an electric field holes behave as carriers of positive charge
(as modifier)hole current
a vacancy in the nearly full continuum of quantum states of negative energy of fermions. A hole appears as the antiparticle of the fermion
in holesso worn as to be full of holeshis socks were in holes
in the holemainlyUS
in debt
(of a card, the hole card, in stud poker) dealt face down in the first round
make a hole into consume or use a great amount of (food, drink, money, etc)to make a hole in a bottle of brandy
verb
to make a hole or holes in (something)
(when intr, often foll by out) golfto hit (the ball) into the hole
Word Origin for hole
Old English hol; related to Gothic hulundi, German Höhle, Old Norse hylr pool, Latin caulis hollow stem; see hollow
A gap, usually the valence band of an insulator or semiconductor, that would normally be filled with one electron. If an electron accelerated by a voltage moves into a gap, it leaves a gap behind it, and in this way the hole itself appears to move through the substance. Even though holes are in fact the absence of a negatively charged particle (an electron), they can be treated theoretically as positively charged particles, whose motion gives rise to electric current.