hole
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.
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.).
to make a hole or holes.
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 about 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
1synonym study For hole
Other words for hole
Other words from hole
- holeless, adjective
- holey, adjective
Words that may be confused with hole
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
British Dictionary definitions for hole
/ (həʊl) /
an area hollowed out in a solid
an opening made in or through something
an animal's hiding place or burrow
informal an unattractive place, such as a town or a dwelling
informal a cell or dungeon
US informal a small anchorage
a fault (esp in the phrase pick holes in)
slang a 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 holes so worn as to be full of holes: his socks were in holes
in the hole mainly US
in debt
(of a card, the hole card, in stud poker) dealt face down in the first round
make a hole in to consume or use a great amount of (food, drink, money, etc): to make a hole in a bottle of brandy
to make a hole or holes in (something)
(when intr, often foll by out) golf to hit (the ball) into the hole
Origin of hole
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for hole
[ hōl ]
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.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Other Idioms and Phrases with hole
In addition to the idioms beginning with hole
- hole in one
- hole in the wall
- hole up
also see:
- ace in the hole
- black hole
- in a bind (hole)
- in the hole
- money burns a hole in one's pocket
- need like a hole in the head
- pick holes in
- square peg in a round hole
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Browse