holding

SayHOHL-ding/ˈhoʊldɪŋ/UK/ˈhəʊldɪŋ/

Noun pluralholdings

9 meanings of holding

Practice

1
keepingverb
Present participle and gerund of hold.
The investor is holding the shares until prices rise.
Holding the rope tightly, she climbed down the cliff.
Note
One spelling, two jobs. As a participle it builds the progressive (is holding the shares). It also opens clauses describing what someone is doing meanwhile: The American novelist Winston Churchill's The Celebrity (1897) has a young lady who "stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps." As a gerund it names the act itself: holding a grudge. Keep it apart from the asset sense, which takes a plural.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
The Celebrity is by the American novelist Winston Churchill. en.wikipedia.org
The Celebrity was first published in 1897. en.wikipedia.org
The passage describes a young lady. gutenberg.org
The quoted words occur exactly in the novel's narration. gutenberg.org
2
things ownednouncountable
Something that a person or organization owns, especially financial assets such as stocks and bonds.
The fund's largest holding is a stake in a renewable energy firm.
She reviewed her investment holdings before meeting her financial adviser.
UsageMost often plural: a fund's holdings, a library's holdings, a holding in a company.
Similarinvestment, asset, stake, position, security
Note
A library's holdings are its whole collection. A state can sell its holding in an airline. At the bridge table, your holdings in a suit are the cards you have in it. In investing, the singular names one position in a portfolio, and the plural names the portfolio itself.
3
parent companynounnonstandardcountable
A company that owns and controls other companies; more broadly, a corporate group or conglomerate.
UsageMainly in writing about Russia and nearby countries. Elsewhere, say holding company or group.
Similarconglomerate, group
Note
A word that went abroad and came back changed. Russian took up холдинг for a holding company. Writers translating from Russian then carried it back into English as a bare noun, often for any large corporate group. It turns up mainly in texts about Russia and other countries whose languages use the bare word, and counts as nonstandard.
4
court rulingnouncountable
An official determination of a point of law made by a court.
The appellate court's holding overturned decades of precedent.
Both attorneys cited the holding to support their arguments.
Similarruling, decision, judgment, finding
5
piece of landnouncountable
A piece of land or property, such as a farm, held from another as a tenant.
The tenant farmer paid rent on a modest holding near the river.
Their holdings stretched across the entire valley.
Similarproperty, farm, plot, estate, tenancy
Note
Feudal tenure is built into the grammar here: land was held of a lord, and the holding is what the tenant has on those terms. In Shakespeare's King John, the crown is handed back to John "as holding of the Pope," so the king now holds his authority like a tenant. That preposition of, marking the superior, is the trace to watch for. In modern talk of farms, the word simply means the land a tenant works.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
A holding in this sense is land held from another under terms of tenure. en.wiktionary.org
In Shakespeare's King John, Pandulph returns John's crown with the quoted words, making John's royal authority dependent on the Pope. folger.edu
In the tenure construction, 'of' introduces the superior from whom the land is held. avalon.law.yale.edu

Less common meanings

6
foul (sports)noununcountable
In sports, a foul committed by unfairly restricting an opposing player's movement with the hands or stick.
The linebacker was flagged for holding on the final play.
Repeated holding by the defense gave the offense an automatic first down.
UsageUsed with no article: a player is flagged for holding or called for holding; but a holding call, a holding penalty.
Note
The foul covers grabbing an opponent with the hands. In sports played with sticks, it also covers restraining an opponent with the stick. The ordinary -ing form of hold simply becomes the infraction's name.
7
nounobsolete
Something that holds, binds, or influences; a controlling force, influence, or power.
This is one of the principal holdings of that destructive system, which has endeavoured to unhinge all the virtuous, honourable, and useful connexions in the kingdom.
1770, Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents
Note
Edmund Burke still uses it in 1770, calling one practice "one of the principal holdings" of a destructive system. He means a support, a grip by which the system keeps its power. The sense was rare and is now obsolete. Modern prose says hold or grip instead: write "a powerful hold over the people," not "a powerful holding."
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Burke's use dates to 1770, the first publication year of Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents. en.wikipedia.org
Burke calls a practice 'one of the principal holdings' of a destructive system; the preceding passage concerns MPs' political infidelity and versatility. en.wikisource.org
The intended sense is something that holds or sustains influence or power, and it is labelled rare and obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
8
nounobsolete
Logical consistency; the quality of reasoning or argument that holds together without contradiction.
This has no holding, To swear by him whom I protest to love That I will work against him.
c. 1604, William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”
Note
A Shakespearean sense for reasoning that hangs together. In All's Well That Ends Well, it "has no holding" to swear by the one you profess to love that you will work against him: the oath undoes itself. Today we say a claim doesn't hold, or doesn't hold water. The sense survives only in older texts, so recognize it there rather than use it; a modern sentence praising a proof's holding will puzzle its readers.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Shakespeare uses holding to mean logic or consistency. en.wiktionary.org
In All's Well That Ends Well, Diana says the quoted words while explaining why swearing by someone one professes to love to act against him is contradictory. folger.edu
9
nounobsolete
The refrain or chorus of a song; the repeated burden that returns after each verse.
Make battery to our ears with the loud music; The while I'll place you; then the boy shall sing. The holding every man shall beat as loud As his strong sides can volley.
c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”
Note
Burden here means a song's refrain, not a load, and holding was another name for it. In Antony and Cleopatra the boy sings the verses, while "the holding every man shall beat as loud / As his strong sides can volley." The refrain belongs to the whole company. The sense is long obsolete; modern English says chorus or refrain.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Burden can mean a song's recurring refrain. en.wiktionary.org
Holding was another name for a song's burden or chorus. en.wiktionary.org
In Antony and Cleopatra, Enobarbus assigns the song to the boy and the refrain to every man; the quotation is accurate. gutenberg.org

holding is a form of hold

hold, verb: To grasp or grip something. Full entry

Forms: holdholds he/she/itholding -ing formheld past tense, past participle
Spelling: hold → holding: add -ing

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of holding apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.