ahold

[ uh-hohld ]

/ əˈhoʊld /

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Informal. a hold or grasp (often followed by of): He took ahold of my arm. Grab ahold!

Nautical Archaic. close to the wind and on a single tack: to keep a vessel ahold.

QUIZZES

In effect, this quiz will prove whether or not you have the skills to know the difference between “affect” and “effect.”

Question 1 of 7

The rainy weather could not ________ my elated spirits on my graduation day.

get ahold of, Informal. hold¹ (def. 52).

First recorded in 1600–10; a-¹ + hold¹ (noun)

After a letter to Vandenberg went unanswered, Portugal said she picked up the phone and got ahold of him at his practice.
DNA Testing Is Unearthing Local Fertility Fraud Cases|Jared Whitlock|January 5, 2021|Voice of San Diego
City of San Diego leaders have long worked to get ahold of the Carpenter and Engel’s lease so they could expand the Convention Center on to that land.
Morning Report: Another Year of Racially Disproportionate Police Encounters|Voice of San Diego|December 30, 2020|Voice of San Diego
“My prom date got ahold of my number and called me recently and congratulated me on everything that's going on,” says Trainor.
‘All About That Bass’ Singer Meghan Trainor On Haters and Her Polarizing (and Unlikely) No. 1 Hit|Marlow Stern|October 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The guy who took the video got ahold of me and said he wanted half a million dollars and sent me the video.
Tom Sizemore’s Revenge: On Tom Cruise’s Scientology Recruitment, Drugs, and Craving a Comeback|Marlow Stern|September 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST

So I called someone at HBO and got ahold of the first season and just watched them all in two days.
The Director Isn’t Done Yet: An Interview With Steven Soderbergh|Andrew Romano|August 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And this capsule will be able to dock itself, without needing the ISS to grab ahold and guide it in.
SpaceX’s Dragon V2 Will Land Exactly Where It Wants To|Zach Rosenberg|May 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And wingers, as a general principle, just get ahold of yourselves, would you?
An Article That Made Me Sad, and a Little Response to Readers|Michael Tomasky|June 12, 2012|DAILY BEAST
I must say it tickles ME to think o' the way that boy took ahold o' that job back yonder.
The Turmoil|Booth Tarkington
Nichols then said he told him, along with the police they would try to get ahold of Mr. Abt, which they did.
Warren Commission (5 of 26): Hearings Vol. V (of 15)|The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
Somehow or other when Joe dug me out from under the seat I had ahold of the little baby that had been in the seat in back of me.
The Camp Fire Girls Solve a Mystery|Hildegard G. Frey
I must have dropped it without knowing it when I caught ahold of the fence to steady myself.
The Camp Fire Girls Solve a Mystery|Hildegard G. Frey
Then we just pushed the brute into the ditch and the men ahold of the lariat pulled him through.
In the Early Days along the Overland Trail in Nebraska Territory, in 1852|Gilbert L. Cole