# hold up

Pronunciation: say "hohld-UP" US /ˌhoʊld ˈʌp/, UK /ˌhəʊld ˈʌp/

## Phrasal verb

1. To delay someone or something by getting in the way or keeping them back.
   - Simple: To make someone or something late or slow by getting in the way.
   - _Customs officials held up the shipment for three days while they checked the paperwork._
   - _A slow truck in front of us was holding us up the whole way._
2. To stop and wait, or to put off doing something for a while. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To wait, or to stop for a while before doing something.
   - _Hold up, let me grab my jacket before we go._
   - _We should hold up here until the rest of the group catches up._
3. To rob a person or business by stopping them and making threats, usually with a weapon.
   - Simple: To rob a person or a store by scaring them, usually with a gun or knife.
   - _Masked gunmen held up an armored truck outside the mall._
   - _Outlaws used to hold up stagecoaches on the lonely mountain road._
4. To bear the weight of something so that it stays up, or to raise it.
   - Simple: To carry the weight of something or lift it up.
   - _Steel cables hold up the entire span of the bridge._
   - _He held up his daughter so she could see over the crowd at the parade._
5. To withstand pressure, wear, or examination without failing.
   - Simple: To stay strong and not break or fail when tested.
   - _Her alibi held up even after detectives checked every detail._
   - _Cheap phone cases rarely hold up to daily use._
6. To stay calm and keep going in spite of hardship or distress.
   - Simple: To stay calm and strong during a hard time.
   - _Friends kept calling to ask how he was holding up after the layoffs._
   - _The family held up remarkably well through months of uncertainty._
9. Of a book, film, or other work, to keep its appeal over time without seeming dated.
   - Simple: Of a movie, book, or song, to still seem good years later and not old-fashioned.
   - _The special effects look primitive now, but the story holds up remarkably well._
   - _Few sitcoms from the 1990s hold up as well as this one._
10. To do everything one promised as one's own part of an agreement.
   - Simple: To do the part of a deal that you promised to do.
   - _The landlord held up his end of the agreement and fixed the heating within a week._
   - _If the suppliers don't hold up their part of the contract, the whole project stalls._
11. To put someone or something forward for attention, as if lifting it up for people to see.
   - Simple: To point to someone or something so everyone notices, often as an example.
   - _Critics held up the new law as proof that the government had lost its way._
   - _The company's founder is often held up as a model of frugal leadership._
12. To keep pace and not fall behind or lose ground.
   - Simple: To keep up, and not fall behind or drop to a lower level.
   - _Share prices held up surprisingly well while the rest of the market fell._
   - _Analysts expect tourism in the region to hold up despite the rise in fuel costs._

## Noun · hold-up

Pronunciation: say "HOHLD-up" US /ˈhoʊld ˌʌp/, UK /ˈhəʊld ˌʌp/

7. A delay, or a period spent waiting. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A delay, or a time when you have to wait.
   - _After a two-hour hold-up on the runway, the flight finally took off._
   - _The project ran into hold-ups at almost every stage of approval._
8. A robbery in which the victims are threatened with a gun. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A crime where someone points a gun at people and takes their money or things.
   - _The bank teller pressed the silent alarm as soon as the hold-up began._
   - _Police linked the gun to a string of hold-ups at convenience stores._
13. Women's stockings made to stay up on their own, without a garter belt.
   - Simple: Women's stockings that stay up on their own, without straps to hold them.
   - _The shop sells hold-ups in a range of sizes, all with a silicone band at the top._
   - _She switched to hold-up stockings so that no clips would show under her short dress._
14. A traffic jam, with vehicles stuck or crawling along the road. *(Nigeria)*
   - Simple: A long line of cars that cannot move, or move very slowly.
   - _Commuters spent three hours in the hold-up on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway._
   - _Heavy rain caused a hold-up that stretched from Ikeja to Ojota._
15. The tactic of keeping back a card that could win the current trick so that it can be used later.
   - Simple: In the card game bridge, keeping back a card that could win a round, to use it later.
   - _Declarer made the contract with a classic hold-up, refusing to take the ace until the third round of the suit._
   - _Defenders can use hold-ups too, ducking the first lead to cut declarer off from dummy._
16. The total amount of nuclear material held within a separation plant.
   - Simple: The amount of nuclear material held inside a plant where that material is separated.
   - _Before decommissioning, engineers had to recover the uranium hold-up from the plant's cascades._
   - _An unexpectedly large hold-up made it hard to close the plant's material balance._

## Origin

Formed from the verb hold up.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/hold-up (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).