Definition of 'hole'

Word Frequency

hole

(hoʊl )

Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular present tense holes , present participle holing , past tense, past participle holed

1. countable noun

A hole is a hollow space in something solid, with an opening on one side.

He took a shovel, dug a hole, and buried his once-prized possessions.

The builders had cut holes into the soft stone to support the ends of the beams.

...a 60ft hole.

Synonyms: cavity, depression, pit, hollow More Synonyms of hole

2. countable noun

A hole is an opening in something that goes right through it.

These tiresome creatures eat holes in the leaves. [+ in]

Armed robbers broke into the jeweller's through a hole in the wall.

...kids with holes in the knees of their jeans. [+ in]

Synonyms: opening, split, crack, break More Synonyms of hole

3. countable noun

A hole is the home or hiding place of a mouse, rabbit, or other small animal.

...a rabbit hole.

Synonyms: burrow, nest, den, earth More Synonyms of hole

4. countable noun

A hole in a law, theory, or argument is a fault or weakness that it has.

There were some holes in that theory, some unanswered questions. [+ in]

Synonyms: fault, error, flaw, defect More Synonyms of hole

5. countable noun [usually adjective NOUN]

If you refer to a place as a hole, you are emphasizing that you think it is very unpleasant.

[informal, disapproval]

Why don't you leave this awful hole and come to live with me?

Synonyms: hovel, dump [informal], dive [slang], slum More Synonyms of hole

6. countable noun

A hole is also one of the nine or eighteen sections of a golf course.

I played nine holes with Gary today.

7. countable noun

A hole is one of the places on a golf course that the ball must drop into, usually marked by a flag.

8. verb

If you hole in a game of golf, you hit the ball so that it goes into the hole.

He holed from nine feet at the 18th. [VERB]

Frost holed a bunker shot from 50 feet to snatch the title by one stroke. [VERB noun]

9. verb [usually passive]

If something such as a building or ship is holed, holes are made in it by guns or other weapons.

[mainly British]

Blocks of flats have been holed and some shells have fallen within the historic ramparts. [be VERB-ed]

10.

See need sth/sb like a hole in the head

11.

See in a hole

12.

See a hole in one

13.

See pick holes

Phrasal verbs:

See hole up

More Synonyms of hole

Video: pronunciation of
hole

hole in British English

(həʊl )

noun

an area hollowed out in a solid

an opening made in or through something

an animal's hiding place or burrow

4. informal

an unattractive place, such as a town or a dwelling

5. informal

a cell or dungeon

6. US informal

a small anchorage

a fault (esp in the phrase pick holes in)

8. slang

a difficult and embarrassing situation

the cavity in various games into which the ball must be thrust

10. (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

11. 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

12. in holes

13. in the hole

14. make a hole in

verb

15.

to make a hole or holes in (something)

16. (when intr, often foll by out) golf

to hit (the ball) into the hole

Word origin

Old English hol; related to Gothic hulundi, German Höhle, Old Norse hylr pool, Latin caulis hollow stem; see hollow

Word Frequency

hole in American English

(hoʊl )

noun

a hollow or hollowed-out place; cavity

; specif.,

an excavation or pit

b. US

a small bay or inlet; cove

often in place names

a pool or deep, relatively wide place in a stream

a swimming hole

an animal's burrow or lair; den

a small, dingy, squalid place; any dirty, badly lighted room, house, etc.

an opening in or through anything; break; gap

a hole in the wall

a tear or rent, or a place where fabric is worn away, as in a garment

a flaw; fault; blemish; defect

holes in an argument

5. Informal

an embarrassing situation or position; predicament

6. Golf

a small, cylindrical cup sunk into a green, into which a ball is to be hit

any of the distinct sections of a course, including the tee, the fairway, and the green

played the fifth hole in par

7. Physics and Electronics

a vacancy in a semiconductor, crystal, etc. left by the loss or absence of an electron: in some semiconductors it acts as a carrier of a positive electric charge

verb transitiveWord forms: holed or ˈholing

to make a hole or holes in

to put, hit, or drive into a hole

10.

to create by making a hole

to hole a tunnel through a mountain

Idioms:

burn a hole in someone's pocket

SYNONYMY NOTE: hole is the general word for an open space in a thing and may suggest a depression in a surface or an opening from surface to surface [a hole in the ground, a hole in a sock]; hollow basically suggests an empty space within a solid body, whether or not it extends to the surface, but it may also be applied to a depressed place in a surface [a wooded hollow]; cavity, the Latin-derived equivalent of , hollow, has special application in formal and scientific usage [the thoracic cavity]; an excavation is a hollow made in or through ground by digging [the excavations at Pompeii]

Word origin

ME < OE hol, orig. neut. of adj. holh, hollow, akin to Ger hohl < IE base *kaul-, *kul-, hollow, hollow stalk > L caulis, Gr kaulos, stalk

Example sentences including
hole

These examples have been automatically selected and may contain sensitive content. Read more…

Yet what did he expect when his own story was full of holes.Cut a small hole in each one and stuff with half an olive for the pupil.They no longer have last year's hole in their head. Eight birdies in four holes was gilt-edged golf.You'll have to find your own rabbit hole.It's not difficult to pick holes in the proposals.He also had birdie putts on the 17th and 18th holes as he finished eight under par.The 7th is the only hole on the course that really makes use of Hazeltine lake.If using festive pastry shapes instead, you won't need to make any holes in the pastry.They need acquisition complexity like a hole in the head.