hole
noun /həʊl/
/həʊl/
Idioms - [countable] a hollow space in something solid or in the surface of something
- He dug a deep hole in the garden.
- hole in something The bomb blew a huge hole in the ground.
- Water had collected in the holes in the road.
- She drilled a small hole in the wall.
Extra Examples- I uprooted the tree and filled the hole with earth.
- The snake disappeared down a hole.
- There was water in the hole.
- We dug a deep hole to bury the animals in.
- We used cement to plug the holes.
- He managed to dig out a small snow hole.
- I've got a chocolate-bar-sized hole in my stomach.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- big
- deep
- gaping
- …
- bore
- create
- cut
- …
- down a/the hole
- in a/the hole
- through a/the hole
- …
- full of holes
- riddled with holes
- [countable] a space or opening that goes all the way through something
- We drilled a hole through the wall.
- The car was riddled with bullet holes.
- The old blankets were full of holes.
- hole in something There were holes in the knees of his trousers.
- There's a gaping hole in the ceiling and rain is pouring onto my desk.
- She punched two holes in each sheet of paper.
- through a hole The children climbed through a hole in the fence.
Homophones hole | wholehole wholesee also black hole, ozone hole/həʊl//həʊl/- hole noun
- She caught a fish through a hole in the ice.
- whole adjective
- He hadn't told us the whole story.
- whole noun
- The camera moves and you see the whole of the palace.
Extra Examples- The figure cut a round black hole in the ice of a lake.
- He had worn a hole in the knees of his trousers.
- I used a skewer to make an extra hole in my belt.
- The missile had torn a jagged hole in the side of the ship.
- The wall was full of bullet holes.
- an operation for a hole in her heart
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- big
- deep
- gaping
- …
- bore
- create
- cut
- …
- down a/the hole
- in a/the hole
- through a/the hole
- …
- full of holes
- riddled with holes
- [countable] the home of a small animal
- a mouse hole
- down a hole The story begins with Alice falling down a rabbit hole.
- [countable, usually singular] (informal, disapproving) an unpleasant place to live or be in synonym dump
- I am not going to bring up my child in this hole.
- [countable] a hollow in the ground that you must get the ball into; one of the sections of a golf course with the tee at the beginning and the hole at the end
enlarge image- The ball rolled into the hole and she had won.
- an eighteen-hole golf course
- He liked to play a few holes after work.
- She won the first hole.
- She won by one hole.
- [countable, usually plural] a fault or weakness in something such as a plan, law or story
- I don't believe what she says—her story is full of holes.
- hole in something He was found not guilty because of holes in the prosecution case.
- [singular] hole (in something) a place or position that needs to be filled because somebody/something is no longer there
- After his wife left, there was a gaping hole in his life.
- Buying the new equipment left a big hole in the company's finances.
hollow space
opening
animal’s home
unpleasant place
in golf
fault/weakness
empty place/position
Word OriginOld English hol (noun), holian (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hol (noun) ‘cave’, (adjective) ‘hollow’, and German hohl ‘hollow’, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘cover, conceal’.
Idioms
an ace in the hole (North American English)
(British English an ace up your sleeve)
- (informal) a secret advantage, for example a piece of information or a skill, that you are ready to use if you need to
burn a hole in your pocket
- if money burns a hole in your pocket, you want to spend it as soon as you have it
dig yourself into a hole
- to get yourself into a bad situation that will be very difficult to get out of
in a hole
- (informal) in a difficult situation
- He had got himself into a hole and it was going to be difficult to get out of it.
in the hole
- (North American English, informal) owing money
- We start the current fiscal year $30 million in the hole.
make a hole in something
- to use up a large amount of something that you have, especially money
- School fees can make a big hole in your savings.
pick holes in something
- to find the weak points in something such as a plan, suggestion, etc.
- It was easy to pick holes in his arguments.
a square peg (in a round hole)
- (informal) a person who does not feel happy or comfortable in a particular situation, or who is not suitable for it