holdback

[ hohld-bak ]

noun
  1. the iron or strap on the shaft of a horse-drawn vehicle to which the breeching of the harness is attached, enabling the horse to hold back or to back the vehicle.

  2. a device for restraining or checking, as a doorstop or tieback.

  1. a stop or delay: a holdback in negotiations.

  2. a withholding: the holdback of a day's pay.

  3. something, as a planned expenditure or allotment, that is withheld or deferred.

Origin of holdback

1
First recorded in 1575–85; noun use of verb phrase hold back

Words Nearby holdback

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

How to use holdback in a sentence

  • And sometimes, the biggest holdback to women is that same depth to which they feel.

    Daddy Runs a Meth Lab | Joel Keller | March 8, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • For this end, during eleven years, all had given their share without stint or holdback.

    Christine | Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
  • When the nerve is unduly irritated the holdback, or inhibitory force, is increased, and the heart slows up in the same measure.

    Special Report on Diseases of the Horse | United States Department of Agriculture
  • In the clouds we were passing over Clingman, Gibbs, and holdback.

    On Horseback | Charles Dudley Warner

British Dictionary definitions for hold back

hold back

verb(adverb)
  1. to restrain or be restrained

  2. (tr) to withhold: he held back part of the payment

nounholdback
  1. a strap of the harness joining the breeching to the shaft, so that the horse can hold back the vehicle

  2. something that restrains or hinders

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with holdback

holdback

Also, keep back.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.