hole

UK: /ˈhəʊl/ US: /hoʊl/ ,(hōl)

Inflections of 'hole' (v): (⇒ conjugate)

holes

v 3rd person singular

holing

v pres p

holed

v past

holed

v past p

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

hole /hoʊl/   n., v., holed, hol•ing. 
n. [countable]

1. an opening through something;
   gap:
   a hole in the roof.
2. a hollow place in a solid mass;
   cavity:
   a hole in the ground.
3. a place dug out by an animal to live in;
   burrow:
   a rabbit hole.
4. a cramped, small, uncomfortable, unpleasant place to live in:
   living in an awful hole downtown.
5. an embarrassing position or predicament.
6. a fault;
   flaw:
   They pointed out the holes in your argument.
7. Sport
   • a circular opening in a golfing green into which the ball is to be played.
   • a part of a golf course including fairway, rough, and hazards:
     the eighteenth hole.

v. [~ + object]

8. to make a hole in.
9. to put or drive into a hole:
   The golfer holed that last shot.
10. hole up:
    • [no object] to retire into a hole or cave for the winter.
    • to hide from or as if from pursuers;
      take refuge: [no object]
      They holed up in the old section of town.
      [be + ~-ed up]
      They were holed up in the old hotel.

Idioms

11. Idioms hole in the wall, a small or confining place.
12. Games, Idioms in a or the hole, in debt:
    I'm in the hole for $300.
13. Idioms pick a hole or holes in, [ ~ + obj] to notice and point out errors in:
    Go over this plan tonight and see if you can pick some holes in it.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

hole  (hōl), n., v., holed, hol•ing. 
n. 

1. an opening through something;
   gap;
   aperture:
   a hole in the roof; a hole in my sock.
2. a hollow place in a solid body or mass;
   a cavity:
   a hole in the ground.
3. the excavated habitation of an animal;
   burrow.
4. a small, dingy, or shabby place:
   I couldn't live in a hole like that.
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. Sport
    • a small cavity, into which a marble, ball, or the like is to be played.
    • a score made by so playing.
11. Sport [Golf.]
    • the circular opening in a green into which the ball is to be played.
    • a part of a golf course from a tee to the hole corresponding to it, including fairway, rough, and hazards.
    • the number of strokes taken to hit the ball from a tee into the hole corresponding to it.
12. Informal Terms 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. Metallurgy (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.
16. Idioms burn a hole in one's pocket, to urge one to spend money quickly:
    His inheritance was burning a hole in his pocket.
17. Idioms hole in the wall, a small or confining place, esp. one that is dingy, shabby, or out-of-the-way:
    Their first shop was a real hole in the wall.
18. Games, Idioms in a or the hole:
    • in debt;
      in straitened circumstances:
      After Christmas I am always in the hole for at least a month.
    • Sport [Baseball, Softball.] pitching or batting with the count of balls or balls and strikes to one's disadvantage, esp. batting with a count of two strikes and one ball or none.
    • Games [Stud Poker.] being the card or one of the cards dealt face down in the first round:
      a king in the hole.
19. Idioms make a hole in, to take a large part of:
    A large bill from the dentist made a hole in her savings.
20. Idioms pick a hole or holes in, to find a fault or flaw in:
    As soon as I presented my argument, he began to pick holes in it.

v.t. 

21. to make a hole or holes in.
22. to put or drive into a hole.
23. Sport [Golf.] to hit the ball into (a hole).
24. Civil Engineering to bore (a tunnel, passage, etc.).

v.i. 

25. to make a hole or holes.
26. hole out, [Golf.] to strike the ball into a hole:
    He holed out in five, one over par.
27. hole up:
    • to go into a hole;
      retire for the winter, as a hibernating animal.
    • to hide, as from pursuers, the police, etc.:
      The police think the bank robbers are holed up in Chicago.

• bef. 900; Middle English; Old English hol hole, cave, origin, originally neuter of hol (adjective, adjectival) hollow; cognate with German hohl hollow

hole′less, adj. 
hol′ey, adj. 
Synonyms

• 1, 2. pit, hollow, concavity.
  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.
• 3. den, cave; lair, retreat.
• 4. hovel, shack.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

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. an unattractive place, such as a town or a dwelling
5. a fault (esp in the phrase pick holes in)
6. a difficult and embarrassing situation
7. the cavity in various games into which the ball must be thrust
8. (on a golf course) each of the divisions of a course (usually 18) represented by the distance between the tee and a green
9. the score made in striking the ball from the tee into the hole
10. 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
11. in holes ⇒ so worn as to be full of holes
12. make a hole in ⇒ to consume or use a great amount of (food, drink, money, etc)

verb

1. to make a hole or holes in (something)
2. when intr, often followed by out: to hit (the ball) into the hole

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