The Collaborative International Dictionary
Hold \Hold\, v. i. In general, to keep one's self in a given position or condition; to remain fixed. Hence:
-
Not to move; to halt; to stop; -- mostly in the imperative.
And damned be him that first cries, ``Hold, enough!''
--Shak. -
Not to give way; not to part or become separated; to remain unbroken or unsubdued.
Our force by land hath nobly held.
--Shak. -
Not to fail or be found wanting; to continue; to last; to endure a test or trial; to abide; to persist.
While our obedience holds.
--Milton.The rule holds in land as all other commodities.
--Locke. -
Not to fall away, desert, or prove recreant; to remain attached; to cleave; -- often with with, to, or for.
He will hold to the one and despise the other.
--Matt. vi. 24 -
To restrain one's self; to refrain.
His dauntless heart would fain have held From weeping, but his eyes rebelled.
--Dryden. -
To derive right or title; -- generally with of. My crown is absolute, and holds of none. --Dryden. His imagination holds immediately from nature. --Hazlitt. Hold on! Hold up! wait; stop; forbear. [Collog] -- To hold forth, to speak in public; to harangue; to preach. --L'Estrange. To hold in, to restrain one's self; as, he wanted to laugh and could hardly hold in. To hold off, to keep at a distance. To hold on, to keep fast hold; to continue; to go on. ``The trade held on for many years,'' --Swift. To hold out, to last; to endure; to continue; to maintain one's self; not to yield or give way. To hold over, to remain in office, possession, etc., beyond a certain date. To hold to or To hold with, to take sides with, as a person or opinion. To hold together, to be joined; not to separate; to remain in union. --Dryden. --Locke. To hold up.
To support one's self; to remain unbent or unbroken; as, to hold up under misfortunes.
To cease raining; to cease to stop; as, it holds up.
--Hudibras.To keep up; not to fall behind; not to lose ground.
--Collier.
Usage examples of "to hold together".
I felt I was one of a multitude included in a nebulous mass too vague to hold together unless we were constantly wary.
Nobody was really pleased with the Missouri Compromise, but it did manage to hold together the increasingly fragile Union for another three decades.
And in sedition, men being always in the procincts of battell, to hold together, and use all advantages of force, is a better stratagem, than any that can proceed from any subtilty of Wit.