Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A wood or grove; a copse.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A dialectal variant of
hold . - noun A hole; a burrow; specifically, a deep hole in a river for the protection of fish.
- noun A contracted form of
holdeth , third person singular present indicative of hold. - noun A wood or woodland; a grove; an orchard.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- obsolete 3d pers. sing. pres. of
hold , contr. fromholdeth . - noun A piece of woodland; especially, a woody hill.
- noun A deep hole in a river where there is protection for fish; also, a cover, a hole, or hiding place.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A small piece of
woodland or a woodyhill ; acopse . - noun The
lair of an animal, especially of anotter .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Chaucer -- for he knew that "smalè foulès" shelter in the "hethe" as well as in the "holt" -- among broom and bracken, and heath and rushes.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol 58, No. 357, July 1845 Various
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Everybody on the border in those days used to steal, and their best "holt," as we say, was cattle.
Public Speaking Irvah Lester Winter
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Riley's best "holt" as a poet was his memory of his own boyhood and his perception that the child-mind lingers in every adult reader.
The American Spirit in Literature : a chronicle of great interpreters Bliss Perry 1907
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At length, in spite of his antagonist's agility, the bear managed to get his "holt," and puss, wrapped in his strong arms, was practically whipped; not without protest -- she was a "last-ditch" warrior.
Red Saunders' Pets and Other Critters Henry Wallace Phillips 1899
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Livy laid her japonica, down to get a better "holt" for kissing -- which Susie presently perceived, and became thoughtful: then said sorrowfully, turning the great deeps of her eyes upon her mother: "Don't you care for you wow?"
Complete Letters of Mark Twain Mark Twain 1872
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Livy laid her japonica, down to get a better "holt" for kissing -- which Susie presently perceived, and became thoughtful: then said sorrowfully, turning the great deeps of her eyes upon her mother: "Don't you care for you wow?"
Mark Twain's Letters — Volume 2 (1867-1875) Mark Twain 1872
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A woodpecker called loudly in the beech wood; a "wish-wish" in the air overhead was caused by the swift motion of a wood-pigeon passing from "holt" to "hurst," from copse to copse.
The Life of the Fields Richard Jefferies 1867
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It is well known that if you seize a deer by this "holt" the skin will slip off like the peel from
The Complete Project Gutenberg Writings of Charles Dudley Warner Charles Dudley Warner 1864
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It is well known that if you seize a deer by this "holt" the skin will slip off like the peel from a banana -- This reprehensible practice was carried so far that the traveler is now hourly pained by the sight of peeled-tail deer mournfully sneaking about the wood.
In the Wilderness Charles Dudley Warner 1864
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25D: Burrow: rabbit:: holt: _____ (otter) - I know "holt" only from the opening of "Canterbury Tales," but I don't remember OTTERs being involved.
sionnach commented on the word holt
One of the witch's familiars:
"came in like a white kittling"
April 23, 2008
cryptofascistbbq commented on the word holt
–noun Archaic.
1. a wood or grove.
2. a wooded hill.
July 12, 2009