pret. held; pp. held. Holden is obsolete in elegant writing.

To stop; to confine; to restrain from escape; to keep fast; to retain. It rarely or never signifies the first act of seizing or falling on, but the act of retaining a thing when seized or confined. To grasp, is to seize, or to keep fast in the hand; hold coincides with grasp in the latter sense, but not in the former. We hold a horse by means of a bridle. An anchor holds a ship in her station.

To embrace and confine, with bearing or lifting. We hold an orange in the hand, or a child in the arms.

To connect; to keep from separation. The loops held one curtain to another. Exodus 36:12.

To maintain, as an opinion. He holds the doctrine of justification by free grace.

To consider; to regard; to think; to judge, that is, to have in the mind. I hold him but a fool. The Lord will not hold him guiltless, that taketh his name in vain. Exodus 20:7.

To contain, or to have capacity to receive and contain. Here is an empty basket that holds two bushels. This empty cask holds thirty gallons. The church holds two thousand people.

To retain within itself; to keep from running or flowing out. A vessel with holes in its bottom will not hold fluids. They have hewed them out broken cisterns that can hold no water. Jeremiah 2:13.

To defend; to keep possession; to maintain. We mean to hold what anciently we claim . Of empire.

To have; as, to hold a place, office or title.

To have or possess by title; as, he held his lands of the king. The estate is held by copy of court-roll.

To refrain; to stop; to restrain; to withhold. Hold your laughter. Hold your tongue. Death! what do’st? O, hold thy blow.

To keep; as, hold your peace.

To fix; to confine; to compel to observe or fulfill; as, to hold one to his promise.

To confine; to restrain from motion. The Most High--held still the flood till they had passed. 2 Esdras 13:44.

To confine; to bind; in a legal or moral sense. He is held to perform his covenants.

To maintain; to retain; to continue. But still he held his purpose to depart.

To keep in continuance or practice. And Night and Chaos, ancestors of nature, hold Eternal anarchy.

To continue; to keep; to prosecute or carry on. Seed-time and harvest, heat and hoary-frost, Shall hold their course.

To have in session; as, to hold a court or parliament; to hold a council.