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Idioms

    burn a hole in one's pocket, to urge one to spend money quickly: His inheritance was burning a hole in his pocket.
    hole in the wall, a small or confining place, especially one that is dingy, shabby, or out-of-the-way: Their first shop was a real hole in the wall.
    in a/the hole,
    1. in debt; in straitened circumstances: After Christmas I am always in the hole for at least a month.
    2. Baseball, Softball.pitching or batting with the count of balls or balls and strikes to one's disadvantage, especially batting with a count of two strikes and one ball or none.
    3. Stud Poker.being the card or one of the cards dealt face down in the first round: a king in the hole.
    make a hole in, to take a large part of: A large bill from the dentist made a hole in her savings.
    pick a hole/holes in, to find a fault or flaw in: As soon as I presented my argument, he began to pick holes in it.Also poke a hole/holes in.

Origin of hole

before 900; Middle English; Old English hol hole, cave, orig. neuter of hol (adj.) hollow; cognate with German hohl hollow
Related formshole·less, adjectivehol·ey, adjective
Can be confusedhole whole (see synonym study at the current entry) (see synonym study at whole)holey holy wholly

Synonyms for hole

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR hole ON THESAURUS.COM
1, 2. pit, hollow, concavity. Hole, cavity, excavation refer to a hollow place in anything. Hole is the common word for this idea: a hole in turf. Cavity is a more formal or scientific term for a hollow within the body or in a substance, whether with or without a passage outward: a cavity in a tooth; the cranial cavity. An excavation is an extended hole made by digging out or removing material: an excavation before the construction of a building. 3. den, cave; lair, retreat. 4. hovel, shack.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for in the hole

loss, flaw, lack, deficiency, shortcoming, shortage, bill, commitment, mortgage, indebtedness, receipt, damage, due, liability, credit, deficit, capital, obligation, arrears, shortfall
British Dictionary definitions for in the hole

hole

noun

an area hollowed out in a solid
an opening made in or through something
an animal's hiding place or burrow
informal an unattractive place, such as a town or a dwelling
informal a cell or dungeon
US informal a small anchorage
a fault (esp in the phrase pick holes in)
slang a difficult and embarrassing situation
the cavity in various games into which the ball must be thrust
(on a golf course)
  1. the cup on each of the greens
  2. each of the divisions of a course (usually 18) represented by the distance between the tee and a green
  3. the score made in striking the ball from the tee into the hole
physics
  1. a vacancy in a nearly full band of quantum states of electrons in a semiconductor or an insulator. Under the action of an electric field holes behave as carriers of positive charge
  2. (as modifier)hole current
  3. a vacancy in the nearly full continuum of quantum states of negative energy of fermions. A hole appears as the antiparticle of the fermion
in holes so worn as to be full of holeshis socks were in holes
in the hole mainly US
  1. in debt
  2. (of a card, the hole card, in stud poker) dealt face down in the first round
make a hole in to consume or use a great amount of (food, drink, money, etc)to make a hole in a bottle of brandy

verb

to make a hole or holes in (something)
(when intr, often foll by out) golf to hit (the ball) into the hole

Word Origin for hole

Old English hol; related to Gothic hulundi, German Höhle, Old Norse hylr pool, Latin caulis hollow stem; see hollow
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
Word Origin and History for in the hole

hole

n.

Old English hol "orifice, hollow place, cave, perforation," from Proto-Germanic *hul (cf. Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Old High German hol, Middle Dutch hool, Old Norse holr, German hohl "hollow," Gothic us-hulon "to hollow out"), from PIE root *kel- (see cell).

As a contemptuous word for "small dingy lodging or abode" it is attested from 1610s. Meaning "a fix, scrape, mess" is from 1760. Obscene slang use for "vulva" is implied from mid-14c. Hole in the wall "small and unpretentious place" is from 1822; to hole up first recorded 1875. To need (something) like a hole in the head, applied to something useless or detrimental, first recorded 1944 in entertainment publications, probably a translation of a Yiddish expression, cf. ich darf es vi a loch in kop.

hole

v.

"to make a hole," Old English holian "to hollow out, scoop out" (see hole (n.)). Related: Holed; holing.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
in the hole in Science

hole

[hōl]

A gap, usually the valence band of an insulator or semiconductor, that would normally be filled with one electron. If an electron accelerated by a voltage moves into a gap, it leaves a gap behind it, and in this way the hole itself appears to move through the substance. Even though holes are in fact the absence of a negatively charged particle (an electron), they can be treated theoretically as positively charged particles, whose motion gives rise to electric current.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Idioms and Phrases with in the hole

in the hole

1

In debt; in trouble, especially financial trouble. For example, Joan is too extravagant; she's always in the hole, or Buying all these Christmas presents will put us in the hole for the next few months. [Colloquial; early 1800s] Also see in a bind.

2

In trouble in a competitive sport. For example, At three balls and no strikes, the pitcher's in the hole, or The batter's got two strikes on him; he's in the hole. [Slang; late 1800s]

3

In a card game, scoring lower than zero. For example, Only one hand's been dealt and I'm already three points in the hole. This expression alludes to the practice of circling a minus score in the old game of euchre. The antonym for all three usages is out of the hole, as in It took careful financial management to get Kevin out of the hole, or An experienced pitcher often can manage to get out of the hole. Also see ace in the hole.

hole

In addition to the idioms beginning with hole

  • hole in one
  • hole in the wall
  • hole up

also see:

  • ace in the hole
  • black hole
  • in a bind (hole)
  • in the hole
  • money burns a hole in one's pocket
  • need like a hole in the head
  • pick holes in
  • square peg in a round hole
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.