holding

[ hohl-ding ]
See synonyms for holding on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the act of a person or thing that holds.

  2. a section of land leased or otherwise tenanted, especially for agricultural purposes.

  1. a company owned by a holding company.

  2. Often holdings. legally owned property, especially stocks, bonds, or real estate.

  3. holdings, Library Science. the entire collection of books, periodicals, and other materials in a library.

  4. Sports. the illegal obstruction of an opponent, as in football, basketball, or ice hockey, by use of the hands, arms, or stick.

Origin of holding

1
First recorded in 1175–1225, holding is from the Middle English word holding.See hold1, -ing1

Other words from holding

  • pre·hold·ing, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use holding in a sentence

  • Carter was a very wealthy man whose land holdings—300,000 acres total—were second in Virginia only to the Fairfaxes.

  • Now these holdings were recalled sharply to memory, and both of them took train to Coldriver.

    Scattergood Baines | Clarence Budington Kelland
  • At the Governor's suggestion, in order to obtain revenue, the state sold its railroad holdings at a great reduction.

  • This might have been done by converting the holdings of the men-at-arms into allodial estates, held direct from the Crown.

    Landholding In England | Joseph Fisher
  • A considerable number of the tenants expressed their readiness to purchase their holdings subject to the reservation.

    Is Ulster Right? | Anonymous

British Dictionary definitions for holding

holding

/ (ˈhəʊldɪŋ) /


noun
  1. land held under a lease and used for agriculture or similar purposes

  2. (often plural) property to which the holder has legal title, such as land, stocks, shares, and other investments

  1. sport the obstruction of an opponent with the hands or arms, esp in boxing

adjective
  1. Australian informal in funds; having money

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012