1.to carry something using your hands or arms; to carry something using another part of your body; to carry another person
2.to support someone or something, or to stop them from moving
3.to put a part of your body into a particular position
4.to put your arms around someone because you love them or because they are unhappy
5.to have something inside
6.to be able to fit an amount of something inside
7.to have something, for example a job; to have an opinion about something; to own money or property; to have a document that allows you to do something
8.if a promise or offer holds, it still exists; to stay or keep something at a particular level; to continue to support a weight without breaking or being damaged; if your luck or the weather holds, it continues to be good; to continue to play or sing a note without stopping; to stay in the same position, for example when you are exercising
9.to keep information, for example on a computer
10.to not give something that someone wants to another person
11.to keep someone somewhere as a prisoner; to stop a train, airplane, etc. from leaving at the right time, so that someone who is late can get on it; to stop someone from leaving or from doing what they want
12.if an army holds an area, it has control of it and stops the enemy from getting control of it; to succeed in keeping control of a particular area in an election
13.if a court or judge holds that something is true, the court or judge says that it is true; used for saying what people believe
14.if you hold a meeting or event, you organize it; if a meeting or event is held in a particular place or at a particular time, it takes place there at that time
15.to wait in order to speak to someone on the telephone. You can also say that you hold the line
16.to have a particular quality; used for talking about the feelings that something makes you have. For example, if something holds no fear for you, you are not afraid of it; if your face or voice holds a particular emotion, it shows it
17.to continue to have a particular feeling, especially a bad one
18.to keep an idea or picture in your mind