holding

• enPR: hōldʹ-ĭng, IPA^(key): /ˈhəʊldɪŋ/
  • (Australian) IPA^(key): [ˈhəʉɫdɪŋ]
  • (UK) IPA^(key): [ˈhəʊɫdɪŋ]
  • (US) IPA^(key): [ˈhoʊɫdɪŋ]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊldɪŋ
• Hyphenation: hold‧ing

holding (plural holdings)

1. Something that one owns, especially stocks and bonds.
   • 1980, Joseph D. Dwyer, Russia, the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe, page 9:

     Although this survey lists only a small number of representative materials in the Hoover Library's Baltic Collection, a comprehensive view of the library's holdings can be gained from the Hoover Institution's card catalog or its printed equivalent

   • 2009, The Economist, Law and order in Italy: Trouble with figures‎^[1]:

     Italy's right-wing prime minister was about to cure his biggest headache by selling the state's holding in a troubled airline, Alitalia.

   • 2014, D. K. Acharya, Standard Methods of Contract Bridge Complete, page 378:

     The defender at third position is supposed to keep the partner informed of his holdings in that suit.

2. A determination of law made by a court.
3. A tenure; a farm or other estate held of another.
   • c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], line 3:

     Take again
     From this my hand, as holding of the Pope
     Your sovereign greatness and authority.

4. (obsolete) Logic; consistency.
   • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], line 27:

     This has no holding,
     To swear by him whom I protest to love
     That I will work against him.

5. (sports) A foul consisting of impermissibly restricting the movement of an opposing player with the hands or stick.
6. (obsolete) The burden or chorus of a song.
   • c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii], line 109:

     Make battery to our ears with the loud music;
     The while I'll place you; then the boy shall sing.
     The holding every man shall beat as loud
     As his strong sides can volley.

7. (obsolete, rare) That which holds, binds, or influences; hold; influence; power.
   • 1770, Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents, London: J. Dodsley, page 104:

     This is one of the principal holdings of that destructive system, which has endeavoured to unhinge all the virtuous, honourable, and useful connexions in the kingdom.

8. (in texts about Russia, nonstandard) A holding company, or other kind of company (by back-translation from Russian холдинг (xolding)).

• (determination): finding

• → Polish: holding

holding

1. present participle and gerund of hold

   They were caught holding hands in the dark.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps, […] , and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.

• hodling

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /ɔl.diŋ/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

holding m or f (plural holdings)

1. holding company

• “holding”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Unadapted borrowing from English holding.

holding f (invariable)

1. holding company

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from holding.

• IPA^(key): /ˈxɔl.diŋk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔldiŋk
• Syllabification: hol‧ding

holding m inan (related adjective holdingowy)

1. holding company (company whose main purpose is to own shares of other companies, as opposed to producing goods or offering services)

• “holding”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[2] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “holding”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[3] (in Polish)
• holding in PWN's encyclopedia

Borrowed from English holding.

holding m (invariable)

1. holding company

• “holding”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French holding, from English holding.

holding n (plural holdinguri)

1. holding company

• IPA^(key): /ˈxoldin/ [ˈxol̪.d̪ĩn]
• Rhymes: -oldin
• Syllabification: hol‧ding

holding m (plural holdings)

1. holding company

• “holding”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

From English holding.

• IPA^(key): /hɔl.diɲɟ/

holding (definite accusative holdingi, plural holdingler)

1. holding company