hole
/hɐʉl/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.66 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; a dent; a depression; a fissure.
noun
An opening that goes all the way through a solid body, a fabric, etc.; a perforation; a rent.
noun
In games.
noun
In games.
noun
In games.
noun
In games.
noun
In games.
noun
In games.
Example Sentences
- "I made a blind hole in the wall for a peg. I dug a hole and planted a tree in it."
- "To be called into a huge sphere, and not to be seen to move in't, are the holes where eyes should be, which pitifully disaster the cheeks."
- "Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill."
- "There’s a hole in my shoe. Her stocking has a hole in it."
- "The priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid."
- "[…]her palfrey’s footfall shot Light horrors thro’ her pulses: the blind walls Were full of chinks and holes; and overhead Fantastic gables, crowding, stared:[…]"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *hulaz Proto-Germanic *hulą Proto-West Germanic *hol Old English hol Middle English hole English hole Inherited from Middle English hole, hol, from Old English hol (“orifice, hollow place, cavity”), from Proto-West Germanic *hol (“hole”), from Proto-Germanic *hulą (“hollow space, cavity”), noun derivative of Proto-Germanic *hulaz (“hollow”), which is of uncertain ultimate origin. Related to hollow. Cognate with Dutch, Faroese, and Icelandic hol (“hole”), Danish hul (“hole”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Norn hola (“hole”), Norwegian Bokmål hol (“depression, hole, cavern”), Swedish hål (“hole”), French houle (“swell of water”). Compare unrelated Finnish kolo (“hole”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /hɐʉl/
- British English: /həʊl/
Usage
Inflected Forms
holes (plural)
holes (present, singular)
holing (participle, present)
holed (participle, past)
holed (past)
holer (comparative)
more hole (comparative)
holest (superlative)
most hole (superlative)