hole

Less common meanings

8. 8
   nouncountable

   In golf, the standard-size cup sunk into the green that players aim to hit the ball into, with eighteen on a full course.

   He needed three putts to drop the ball into the hole.

   The eighteenth hole was cut near the edge of the green.

   Similarcup

   Note

   Golf uses the word twice: for the target itself and for the stretch of play that ends in it. To keep the two apart, players often call the target the cup, so a ball can drop into the cup on the fifth hole without any confusion. The cup sits on the green, a closely prepared putting surface of fine, short grass. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • The cup is on the green, a carefully prepared putting surface. calgary.ca
   • Putting greens use various grasses and can contain multiple types; there is no single particular grass used for all greens. archive.lib.msu.edu
9. 9
   nounslangcountable

   A dingy, unpleasant, or run-down place that nobody would want to live in or visit.

   He swore he'd move out of that hole the moment he could afford to.

   The bar downtown is a grimy hole, but the regulars love it.

   Similardump, dive, hovel, pit, sty

   Note

   A disparaging word that can be aimed at any place: a flat, a bar, a whole town. Writing of the Northern Territory in 1887, Harriet W. Daly heard some of the most beautiful places called "awful holes" simply because life in them was monotonous. The word judges how a place feels to live in, not how it looks. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • Harriet W. Daly wrote about the Northern Territory in a book first published in 1887. territorystories.nt.gov.au
   • Daly reported hearing beautiful places called "awful holes" because life there was monotonous. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    verbintransitive

    To go into a hole, as an animal seeking shelter or refuge.

    As the weather turns cold, chipmunks hole up in their underground burrows and sleep for long stretches.

    Hearing a hawk overhead, the ground squirrel dashed across the field and holed up in its burrow until the danger passed.

    UsageMostly as hole up: animals hole up in a burrow, and people hole up in a place to hide or rest.

    Similarburrow, hide, shelter

    Oppositeemerge

    Note

    No object here: the creature does the going, whereas the transitive verb has someone drive a ball or an animal in. Ben Jonson's The Staple of News (1631) turns the verb on a person, promising a scheming character "which I shall see you hole with very shortly." The pillory, with its holes for the head, waits two lines on. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • The Staple of News is by Ben Jonson, and its first-edition title page is dated 1631. emed.folger.edu
    • The first-edition date is 1631. emed.folger.edu
    • The quoted words are spoken to the scheming Picklock by Canter, the elder Pennyboy. hcmc.uvic.ca
    • The pillory has an opening for the head. hcmc.uvic.ca
    • The pillory is mentioned two verse lines later; the intervening line describes the head after its ears have been cut off. hcmc.uvic.ca
11. 11
    solitary cellnouncolloquialcountablewith the

    Solitary confinement; a high-security prison cell where an inmate is held alone, often as punishment.

    After the riot, several inmates were sent to the hole for a month.

    He dreaded the hole more than any other punishment in the prison.

    UsageInmates are sent to the hole or kept in the hole.

    Similarbox

12. 12
    anusnounslangvulgarcountable

    A coarse slang word for an opening in the body, in particular the anus.

    He told the bully exactly where he could shove his complaints, right up his hole.

    After six hours in the saddle, his hole was as sore as his back.

    Similaranus

    Note

    Coarse rather than clinical, and the reason the word needs care in mixed company. Its presence in the language is also why innocent phrases built on hole can draw an unwanted snigger.

13. 13
    verbtransitive

    To drive something into a hole, such as a billiard or golf ball, or an animal into its burrow.

    She holed a long birdie putt on the final green.

    He managed to hole the black ball and clinch the frame.

    UsageThe object is often the stroke: hole a putt, hole a long birdie putt.

    Similarsink, pot, drop

    Oppositemiss

    Note

    The scoring verb of golf and billiards: a player holes a ball, a putt or a shot. The Sporting Magazine of 1798 already uses it at the billiard table, counting points for holing the red ball and an opponent's. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The attributed passage uses the verb for scoring points by pocketing the red ball and an opponent's ball. en.wiktionary.org
14. 14
    missing electronnouncountable

    In semiconductors, a missing electron in an otherwise filled energy band that behaves like a positively charged particle.

    Like a bubble rising through water as the heavier liquid sinks around it.

    In a p-type semiconductor, holes are the majority charge carriers.

    Each hole drifts toward the negative terminal under an applied field.

    Note

    Physics makes a particle out of an absence. When one electron is missing from a nearly full band, the gap it leaves can be tracked as if it were a carrier of positive charge. Physicists therefore speak of holes moving, drifting and carrying current. The language is a convenient fiction: nothing positive travels, but the band behaves as though something did. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • An electron missing from an otherwise filled band can be described as a hole. ssp.utasphys.cloud.edu.au
    • The missing electron can be treated as a positively charged quasiparticle. learnqm.gatech.edu
    • Hole motion describes current transport in the valence band. archive.nptel.ac.in
    • The underlying motion is that of electrons; the band responds as though positive particles were moving. feynmanlectures.caltech.edu
15. 15
    baseball infieldnouncountable

    In baseball, the area of the infield between the shortstop and the third baseman.

    She lined a single through the hole into left field.

    The shortstop made a diving stop deep in the hole.

    Note

    In baseball the hole is a gap, not a pit: the ground between the shortstop and the third baseman that neither fully covers. It almost always takes the and often a word of depth. A shortstop ranges deep into the hole, and a ground ball that beats both fielders goes through the hole into left field. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The baseball hole is a gap between shortstop and third baseman through which ground balls can pass. en.wikipedia.org
    • A shortstop can range deep into the hole to field a ball. en.wiktionary.org
    • A ground ball passing through this gap can reach left field. milb.com
16. 16
    face-down cardnouncountable

    In stud poker, a card dealt face down and known only to the player holding it.

    In seven-card stud, your first two cards are dealt face down, so you start with two cards in the hole.

    Her face-up cards looked weak, but with a pair of aces in the hole she felt quietly confident.

    UsageUsually in the hole. An ace in the hole also means any hidden advantage.

    Note

    Stud poker deals some cards face up and keeps others hidden, and the hidden ones are in the hole. The word names both the card, often called a hole card, and the state it is in. A player can hold a king as a hole or keep an ace in the hole, and the second phrase stresses the secrecy as much as the card. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • Stud poker includes cards dealt face up and cards dealt face down. en.wikipedia.org
    • A hole card is dealt face down and is normally known only to its holder. en.wiktionary.org
17. 17
    mouthnounslangderogatorycountable

    A derogatory slang word for a person's mouth, used especially in telling someone to be quiet.

    Nobody asked for your opinion, so shut your hole and let me finish.

    She told him to shut his hole before he made things worse.

    UsageMostly in the rude command shut your hole, which lands as an insult between people not on such terms.

    Similartrap, mouth, gob, yap

    Note

    Calling a mouth a hole dismisses whatever comes out of it, which is why this use lives almost entirely in commands: "Just shut your hole!" It is derogatory, not merely casual. It can also sound cruder than intended, because the coarser bodily slang sits so close by. Source

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The example “Just shut your hole!” appears with the mouth sense; no speaker is attributed. en.wiktionary.org
18. 18
    mountain valleynounhistoricalCanadaUScountable

    A mountain valley, especially one ringed by higher ground; chiefly in historical American usage.

    Mountain men gathered each summer in the hole to trade furs.

    The wagon train rested a week in a grassy hole below the pass.

    Similarvalley, basin, hollow, vale

    Note

    Historical North American usage, now kept alive mainly in place names, with Jackson Hole as the best-known survivor. The word suits a valley shut in by mountains, a natural hollow on a grand scale, and it echoes the old sense of a hollow place. In modern description, valley or basin is the ordinary word, and hole reads as frontier narrative. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Hole historically meant a mountain valley in North American English. en.wiktionary.org
    • Jackson Hole preserves this geographical sense in its name. nps.gov
    • The historical geographical term described a valley enclosed by mountains. nps.gov
    • Hole has an older sense meaning a hollow place. en.wiktionary.org
19. 19
    vaginanounvulgardialectalIrelandScotlandcountable

    A vulgar term for the vagina.

    Her mother warned her, in the crudest terms, that she would end up pregnant if she let any lad near her hole.

    Struggling with her first tampon, she complained loudly to her sister that the thing would not go up her hole.

    Similarvagina

20. 20
    wreckverbtransitive

    To ruin or destroy something, especially by inflicting serious damage on it.

    Political commentators agreed that the leaked emails had holed the mayor's reelection campaign below the waterline.

    News that auditors had uncovered missing funds was enough to hole the charity's reputation below the waterline, and donations quickly dried up.

    UsageOften hole something below the waterline; it suits commentary and lively prose more than plain reporting.

    Similarsink, torpedo, wreck, ruin, scuttle

    Note

    A figurative stretch of piercing something that works best on things that can be sunk: arguments, stories, plans. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The sense ‘destroy’ extends the literal sense ‘make holes in’. en.wiktionary.org
21. 21
    chess weaknessnouncountable

    In chess, a square a player cannot control with a pawn now or in the future, often exploited as an outpost by the opponent.

    White's knight dominated the hole on e6 for the rest of the game.

    Advancing the f-pawn left a glaring hole on the kingside.

    Similarweakness

    Note

    Chess borrows the word for a weakness that cannot be repaired. Pawns never move backward, so once a square is beyond their reach it stays that way. The hole belongs to the player who cannot cover it and becomes the opponent's asset, a place to settle a piece. Players locate holes by square (on e6) or by wing (on the kingside). Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • A chess hole cannot be repaired by restoring pawn control. en.wiktionary.org
    • Pawns cannot move backward. en.wikipedia.org
    • A hole is a weakness for one player and can provide an outpost for the opponent. gutenberg.org
22. 22
    rail sidingnounslangcountable

    A passing loop; a siding on a single-track line where trains traveling in opposite directions can pass each other.

    The dispatcher held the local in the hole until the priority train cleared.

    The dispatcher sent the eastbound freight into the hole so the westbound passenger train could pass on the single main line.

    Similarsiding, loop

    Note

    Railroaders' slang for the passing siding on a single-track line, and the phrase carries rank. The train that takes the hole pulls off and waits, while the priority train runs past: "We're supposed to take the hole at Cronk and wait for the Limited to pass." The working idioms are take the hole and be held in the hole. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Railroad slang uses 'hole' for a siding where a train waits. calteches.library.caltech.edu
    • The lower-priority train waits in the passing siding while the superior train passes. en.wikipedia.org
    • The quoted wording appears in Wiktionary as an unattributed usage example; no historical speaker or work is identified. en.wiktionary.org
23. 23
    graph cyclenouncountable

    In graph theory, a chordless cycle: a cycle of four or more vertices in which no two non-adjacent vertices are joined by an edge.

    A graph with no hole is called chordal, since every cycle of four or more vertices in it has a chord.

    A perfect graph contains no odd hole and no odd antihole.

    Note

    Graph theory's hole is a ring with nothing across it: a cycle with no edge cutting a shortcut between vertices that are not neighbors. Length matters, and the term is normally reserved for cycles of four or more, since a triangle has no room for a chord. Odd holes are the celebrated case, central to the study of perfect graphs. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • A hole is chordless: no edge joins nonconsecutive vertices of the cycle. kam.mff.cuni.cz
    • Holes have length at least four. users.encs.concordia.ca
    • A triangle cannot have a chord; this follows from the definition because every pair of its vertices is consecutive. en.wikipedia.org
    • Odd holes play a central role in the study of perfect graphs. web.math.princeton.edu
24. 24
    nouncountable

    In the game of fives, the part of the court floor between the step and the pepperbox.