hold someone or something up
hold up
1. Lit. to keep someone or something upright. Johnny is falling asleep. Please hold him up until I prepare the bed for him. Hold up the window sash while I prop it open.
2. Fig. to rob someone or a group. Some punk tried to hold me up. The mild-looking man held up the bank and shot a teller.
3. Fig. to delay someone or something. Driving the kids to school held me up. An accident on Main Street held up traffic for thirty minutes.
hold up
1. Lit. to endure; to last a long time. How long will this cloth hold up? I want my money back for this chair. It isn't holding up well.
2. and hold up (for SOme-one or something) to wait; to stop and wait for someone or something. Hold up for Wallace. He's running hard to catch up to us. Hold up a minute.
hold up (on someone or something)
to delay or postpone further action on someone or something. I know you are getting ready to choose someone, but hold up on Tom. There may be someone better. Hold up on the project, would you? We need to hold up for a while longer.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
hold up
1. to continue to operate or be able to do things I hope the spare tire holds up until we can get to a garage. She is holding up well despite her financial problems.
2. to continue to seem true after being carefully examined The evidence may not hold up in court. Related vocabulary: not hold water
hold up somebody/something also hold somebody/something up
1. to try to steal from a person or place by using violence Two masked men held up the grocery store on my block. They held her up at gunpoint. Related vocabulary: stick up somebody/something
2. to delay someone or something Traffic was held up for several hours by the accident. Sorry to hold you up, but my train was late.
3. to offer someone or something as an example Her parents always held her sister up as the kind of person she should be.
Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003. Reproduced with permission.
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