hole

[ hohl ]

noun

1. an opening through something; gap; aperture:

   a hole in the roof;

   a hole in my sock.

   Synonyms: concavity, hollow, pit

2. a hollow place in a solid body or mass; a cavity:

   a hole in the ground.

   Synonyms: concavity, hollow, pit

3. the excavated habitation of an animal; burrow.

   Synonyms: retreat, lair, cave, den

4. a small, dingy, or shabby place:

   I couldn't live in a hole like that.

   Synonyms: shack, hovel

5. a place of solitary confinement; dungeon.
6. an embarrassing position or predicament:

   to find oneself in a hole.

7. a cove or small harbor.
8. a fault or flaw:

   They found serious holes in his reasoning.

9. a deep, still place in a stream:

   a swimming hole.

10. Sports.
    1. a small cavity, into which a marble, ball, or the like is to be played.
    2. a score made by so playing.
11. Golf.
    1. the circular opening in a green into which the ball is to be played.
    2. a part of a golf course from a tee to the hole corresponding to it, including fairway, rough, and hazards.
    3. the number of strokes taken to hit the ball from a tee into the hole corresponding to it.
12. Informal. opening; slot:

    The radio program was scheduled for the p.m. hole.

    We need an experienced person to fill a hole in our accounting department.

13. Metalworking. (in wire drawing) one reduction of a section.
14. Electronics. a mobile vacancy in the electronic structure of a semiconductor that acts as a positive charge carrier and has equivalent mass.
15. Aeronautics. an air pocket that causes a plane or other aircraft to drop suddenly.

verb (used with object)

, holed, hol·ing.

1. to make a hole or holes in.
2. to put or drive into a hole.
3. Golf. to hit the ball into (a hole).
4. to bore (a tunnel, passage, etc.).

verb (used without object)

, holed, hol·ing.

1. to make a hole or holes.

verb phrase

1. Golf. to strike the ball into a hole:

   He holed out in five, one over par.

2. 1. to go into a hole; retire for the winter, as a hibernating animal.
   2. to hide, as from pursuers, the police, etc.:

      The police think the bank robbers are holed up in Chicago.

hole

/ həʊl /

noun

1. an area hollowed out in a solid
2. an opening made in or through something
3. an animal's hiding place or burrow
4. informal.
   an unattractive place, such as a town or a dwelling
5. informal.
   a cell or dungeon
6. informal.
   a small anchorage
7. a fault (esp in the phrase pick holes in )
8. slang.
   a difficult and embarrassing situation
9. the cavity in various games into which the ball must be thrust
10. 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
11. 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
12. in holes
    so worn as to be full of holes

    his socks were in holes

13. in the hole
    1. in debt
    2. (of a card, the hole card, in stud poker) dealt face down in the first round
14. 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

1. to make a hole or holes in (something)
2. whenintr, often foll by out golf to hit (the ball) into the hole

hole

/ hōl /

1. 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.

Other Words From

• hole·less adjective
• hol·ey adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of hole¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English hol “hole, cave,” originally neuter of hol (adjective) hollow none; cognate with German hohl “hollow”

Word History and Origins

Origin of hole¹

Old English hol; related to Gothic hulundi, German Höhle, Old Norse hylr pool, Latin caulis hollow stem; see hollow

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. burn a hole in one's pocket, to urge one to spend money quickly:

   His inheritance was burning a hole in his pocket.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. make a hole in, to take a large part of:

   A large bill from the dentist made a hole in her savings.

5. pick a hole / holes in, to find a fault or flaw in: Also poke a holeholes in.

   As soon as I presented my argument, he began to pick holes in it.

More idioms and phrases containing hole

• 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

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

To achieve these improvements, the research team focused on understanding the efficiency and stability losses induced by the hole transport layer which plays an important role in the solar cell performance.

From Science Daily

After the plants were removed, the glass was left with a complex 3D microfluidic network of micrometer-sized hollow holes where the roots once were.

From Science Daily

Some of Ian Hughes’s earliest memories are of playing in the dust and digging holes while his mom and her colleagues searched for fossils in South Australia.

From Science Magazine

Trump International claimed the new course - named after Trump's Lewis-born mother, Mary - would feature the “largest sand dunes in Scotland” and form “the greatest 36 holes in golf” alongside the original course, completed in 2012.

From BBC

Beginning in early 2025, researchers plan to deploy thousands of instruments and drill holes to record-setting depths, all with the goal of creating a 3D map of the rock layers kilometers below the surface.

From Science Magazine

Related Words

• break
• crack
• crater
• cut
• dent
• gap
• mouth
• pit
• pocket
• tunnel
• void
• window