hole

1 of 2

noun

ˈhōl 

1

a

: an opening through something : perforation

The coat has a hole in it.

a bullet hole

b

: an area where something is missing

His mother's death left a hole in his life.

: gap: such as

(1)

: a serious discrepancy : flaw, weakness

some holes in your logic

(2)

: an opening in a defensive formation

a running back's ability to find holes in the defensive line

especially : the area of a baseball field between the positions of shortstop and third baseman

(3)

: a defect in a crystal (as of a semiconductor) that is due to an electron's having left its normal position in one of the crystal bonds and that is equivalent in many respects to a positively charged particle

2

: a hollowed-out place

a hole in an apple

: such as

a

: a cave, pit, or well in the ground

dug a large hole with a steam shovel

b

: burrow

a rabbit hole

c

: an unusually deep place in a body of water (such as a river)

3

a

: a wretched or dreary place

How could anyone live in such a hole?

b

: a prison cell especially for solitary confinement

threw him in the hole for two days

4

a

golf : a shallow cylindrical hole or hollowed-out place in the putting green of a golf course into which the ball is played

b

: a part of the golf course from tee (see tee entry 2 sense 2) to putting green

just beginning play on the third hole

also : the play on such a hole as a unit of scoring

won the hole by two strokes

5

a

: an awkward position or circumstance : fix

got the rebels out of a hole at the battle

—Kenneth Roberts

b

: a position of owing or losing money

$10 million in the hole

raising money to get out of the hole

hole

2 of 2

verb

holed; holing

transitive verb

1

: to make an opening through or a hollowed-out place in (as by cutting, digging, boring, or shooting at) : to make a hole (see hole entry 1) in

The ship was holed along the waterline by enemy fire.

2

: to drive or hit into a hole

hole a putt

The dogs holed the fox.

intransitive verb

: to make an opening through or a hollowed-out place in something : to make a hole in something

Phrases

in the hole

1

: having a score below zero

2

: at a disadvantage

Synonyms

Noun

• aperture
• opening
• orifice
• perforation

Verb

• bore
• drill
• perforate
• pierce
• punch
• puncture
• riddle

Examples of hole in a Sentence

Noun

I have a hole in my sock.

He fixed the hole in the roof.

a mouse hole in the wall

The dog dug a deep hole.

Her putt rolled right into the hole.

She made a birdie on the seventh hole.

The course has 18 holes.

Verb

She holed a long putt for a birdie.

holed the target with a round of shots

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Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Despite the lineup of exciting new, smaller brands that the city is known for, Lauren's post-pandemic absence has left a hole in the New York calendar. —Tara Gonzalez, Harper's BAZAAR, 9 Sep. 2023

The front had a gaping hole from apparent bite marks. —Antonia Debianchi, Peoplemag, 8 Sep. 2023

There’s a car-sized hole in recent e-bike safety concerns Earlier this summer, Brodee Champlain Kingman, a 15-year-old, was hit and killed by a driver while riding an e-bike in the city of Encinitas. —Ryan Fonseca, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2023

Running back Jawhar Jordan found a hole on the left side of the field and took off for a 72-yard touchdown to cap off a two-play, 80-yard drive. —Alexis Cubit, The Courier-Journal, 8 Sep. 2023

During a livestream of the Seascape Alaska 5 expedition, which aims to map, explore, and characterize deep water habitats in unexplored regions off Alaska, the researchers manning the underwater robot caught a glimpse of a shiny golden orb, complete with a hole. —Tim Newcomb, Popular Mechanics, 7 Sep. 2023

The building’s roof is pocked with gaping holes, and insulation hangs down into hallways. —Becca Savransky, ProPublica, 6 Sep. 2023

Well, in addition to the Yellowstone of it all, Paramount execs treated 1883’s linear run as a major summer event rather than an emergency effort to plug a schedule hole (Star Trek: Discovery) or a quickie ploy to promote a streaming platform (Ms. Marvel). —Vulture, 6 Sep. 2023

Related: After rollout, Mass. police watchdog agency acknowledges holes, possible errors in disciplinary database Take, for example, Bigda’s most high-profile misstep — a February 2016 incident that sparked a federal indictment. —Hanna Krueger, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Sep. 2023

Verb

Lee hit wedge to 7 feet and holed the par putt to join Hull at 16-under 272 and force a playoff. —Associated Press, BostonGlobe.com, 10 Sep. 2023

The limited-time Fantasy Feast ($249.99) feeds up to 12 guests with six dozen jumbo chicken wings, three racks of St. Louis-style ribs, sides, garlic bread, and two dozen cinnamon sugar donut holes. —Mike Snider, USA TODAY, 31 Aug. 2023

And because making the vent holes smaller threw off the HVAC system, that then had to be reconfigured. —Kelly Davis, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 July 2023

Other shows to recently get memory holed by Disney+ include the Willow series, Earth to Ned, and the 2020 version of Black Beauty. —Vulture, 5 July 2023

Fleetwood made three birdies in four holes around the turn before making an eagle on the par-5 14th, hitting his second shot 276 yards onto the green and holing a 20-foot putt. —Greg Beacham, ajc, 18 June 2023

Save room for snacks too: the donut holes with miso caramel dipping sauce are a delightful sweet side to an after-dinner drink. —Alyssa Bailey, ELLE, 29 June 2023

When Nick Taylor holed a 72-foot putt for an eagle to win the Canadian Open in a playoff Sunday afternoon, nobody was more surprised than Adam Hadwin. —oregonlive, 12 June 2023

Back to the 18th in the playoff, Hovland barely got onto the front of the green, some 60 feet away from the back pin, and two-putted by holing a seven-foot par putt. —Tom Canavan, Los Angeles Times, 4 June 2023

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Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English hole, holle, going back to Old English hol "hollow place, cave, pit," noun derivative from neuter of hol "hollow, deeply concave, sunken," going back to Germanic *hula- (whence also Old Saxon & Old High German hol "hollow," Old Norse holr), probably going back to Indo-European *ḱuH-ló- (with assumed shortening of pretonic vowel), zero-grade derivative of a base *ḱeu̯H- "hollow," whence, with varying ablaut and suffixation, Greek koîlos, kóïlos "hollow, deep" (from *ḱou̯H-ilo-), Latin cavus "hollow, concave" (from *ḱou̯H-o-), Middle Irish cúa "hollow space, cavity," Middle Welsh ceu "hollow, empty" (both from *ḱou̯H-i̯o-?), Old Church Slavic sui "vain, empty" (from *ḱou̯H-i̯o-)

Verb

Middle English holen, going back to Old English holian, derivative of hol hole entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Phrases Containing hole

• air hole
• ace in the hole
• a square peg in a round hole
• a-hole
• funk hole
• dry hole
• finger hole
• bolt-hole
• hole-and-corner
• hole card
• black hole
• hidey-hole
• ozone hole
• hole out
• hole in one
• rabbit hole
• like a hole in the head
• hole up
• hole-in-the-wall
• lubber's hole
• pie hole
• nineteenth hole
• rip a hole
• shot hole
• shut your pie hole
• swimming hole
• sound hole
• water hole
• weep hole
• watering hole
• white hole
• top-hole
• five-hole
• the hole
• toad-in-the-hole
• memory hole
• hidy-hole
• in the hole

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• air hole
• ace in the hole
• a square peg in a round hole
• a-hole
• funk hole
• dry hole
• finger hole
• bolt-hole
• hole-and-corner
• hole card
• black hole
• hidey-hole
• ozone hole
• hole out
• hole in one
• rabbit hole
• like a hole in the head
• hole up
• hole-in-the-wall
• lubber's hole
• pie hole
• nineteenth hole
• rip a hole
• shot hole
• shut your pie hole
• swimming hole
• sound hole
• water hole
• weep hole
• watering hole
• white hole
• top-hole
• five-hole
• the hole
• toad-in-the-hole
• memory hole
• hidy-hole
• in the hole

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Kids Definition

hole

noun

ˈhōl

1

: an opening into or through a thing

2

a

: a hollow place (as a pit or cave)

b

: a deep place in a body of water

trout holes

3

: an underground habitation : burrow

4

: flaw, fault

5

a

: the shallow cup into which the ball is played in golf

b

: a part of a golf course from the tee to the putting green

6

: a shabby or dingy place

7

: an awkward position : fix

hole verb

holey

ˈhō-lē

adjective