hold still for

Idioms  

1. Also, stand still for. Accept or tolerate something, as in Do you think he'll hold still for your decision? These terms are often put negatively, as in The town won't hold still for another increase in property taxes, or The teacher won't stand still for this kind of behavior. The first expression employs hold in the sense of “sustain a particular position or attitude,” a usage dating from about 1300.

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Example Sentences

In exchange for crumbs of egg, wild meerkats will climb onto scales and even hold still for ultrasounds.

From Slate • May 10, 2026

She revels in detail but writes vast, moral poems that help us live in a world of contraries in which “we hold still for the camera, believing/ it will shore up time, knowing it won’t.”

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 11, 2016

Try convincing an enormous whale to hold still for a blood draw in choppy seas—it just isn’t going to happen.

From Science Magazine • Oct. 24, 2014

Could you move two steps to the left and hold still for a sec?

From BBC • Jun. 21, 2013

“Not at all. Just a little itch. Try to hold still for me?”

From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo