Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#FORHOLDCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#FORHOLD forholden (“to withhold; to keep (a corpse) unburied”) [and other forms],^[1] from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#FORHOLDCategory:English terms derived from Old English#FORHOLD forhealdan (“to keep or hold back (something), withhold; to hold away; to disregard, neglect; to hold wrongly, not to keep in good condition”), from for- (prefix meaning ‘away from; wrongly’) + healdan (“to grasp, hold fast; to possess”)^[2] (from Proto-West GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#FORHOLDCategory:English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#FORHOLD *haldan (“to hold; to keep”), from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#FORHOLDCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#FORHOLD *haldaną (“to hold; to keep”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European#FORHOLDCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#FORHOLD *ḱel- (“to cover; to conceal, hide”)). The English word is analysable as for- +‎ holdCategory:English terms prefixed with for-#HOLD, and is cognate with Danish forholde (“to relate”), Dutch verhouden (“to relate”), Low German vorholden (“to detain”), German verhalten (“to control, restrain”), Norwegian forholde (“to deal”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɔːˈhəʊld/, /fə-/Category:English 2-syllable words#FORHOLDCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#FORHOLD

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#FORHOLD
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɔɹˈhoʊld/, /fɚ-/Category:English 2-syllable words#FORHOLDCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#FORHOLD
• Rhymes: -əʊldCategory:Rhymes:English/əʊld#FORHOLDCategory:Rhymes:English/əʊld/2 syllables#FORHOLD
• Homophone: foreholdCategory:English terms with homophones#FORHOLD
• Hyphenation: for‧hold

Verb

forhold (third-person singular simple present forholds, present participle forholding, simple past forheld, past participle forheld or forholden)Category:English lemmas#FORHOLDCategory:English verbs#FORHOLDCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#FORHOLDCategory:Pages with entries#FORHOLDCategory:Pages with 4 entries#FORHOLD

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#FORHOLD, archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#FORHOLD, rareCategory:English terms with rare senses#FORHOLD) To detain, hold back, or hold up (someone or something); also, to retain or withhold (something).
   • [c. 1425, Giraldus Cambrensis [i.e., Gerald of Wales], “Chapter XLIV [MS. Trinity College, Dublin, E. 2. 31]”, in Frederick J[ames] Furnivall, editor, The English Conquest of Ireland. A.D. 1166–1185. Mainly from the ‘Expugnatio Hibernica’ of Giraldus Cambrensis. […] (in Middle English), London: Publisht for the Early English Text Society, by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., […], published 1896, →OCLC, page 108:

     And thegħ he lang ther-to-for was ded, for drede of Iresshe-men, he was for-hold tyl Reymondes comes, & the meygnees, ynto leynestre.

     And though he [Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke] long before that time was dead, for fear of the Irishmen, he was forheld [his burial was held back to conceal the death] till Raymond [FitzGerald] came, with the meinies [military troops], into Leinster.]

     Category:English terms with quotations#FORHOLD

   • 1624 May 11, “[Will Register for 1625] ROGER PAYNE of Easton, yeo. 1 May 1624 [Julian calendar]”, in Marion E. Allen, editor, Wills of the Archdeaconry of Suffolk 1625–1626 (Suffolk Records Society Series; XXXVII), Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press, Boydell & Brewer, published 1995, →ISBN, paragraph 139, page 72:

     [T]estator reserves the right of egress & regress to fetch such goods & implements in the pightle called King's pightle alias Pitmans, now occupied by Thomas Butler; if Thomas Butler foreholds any thing which is above mentioned, then said Thomas & his heirs to loose all benefit from this will.

     Category:English terms with quotations#FORHOLD

   • 1682, Tho[mas] Comber, “Of the English Laws for Tithes”, in An Historical Vindication of the Divine Right of Tithes, from Scripture, Reason, and the Opinion and Practice of Jews, Gentiles, and Christians in All Ages. […], London: […] S. Roycroft, for Robert Clavel […], →OCLC, §. IV and V, page 171:

     King Alfred, his Son, when he made the League with Guthran King of the Danes [i.e., Guthrum], An[no] 878. made a Law to lay pecuniary Mulcts on all Engliſh or Danes, who ſhould detain or forhold their Tithes, the Dane being to forfeit Twenty ſhillings, and the Engliſh man, Thirty […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#FORHOLD

   • 1911 June 24, Justice Pearce, Maryland Court of Appeals, State v. Potomac Valley Coal Co., 116 Md. 380, page 400:

     When the subject of contract is lawful, not public in its character, and the exercise of it is purely private and personal to the parties it can not be for holden or limited by the Legislature.

     According to the judgment the passage is a quotation from State v. Goodwill, 33 W. Va. 188 (1889), but the passage does not appear in the latter case.

References

Anagrams

• Holford

Etymology

From the verb forholde, ultimately from Middle Low GermanCategory:Danish terms derived from Middle Low German#FORHOLD vorholden.

Noun

forhold n (singular definite forholdet, plural indefinite forhold)Category:Danish lemmas#FORHOLDCategory:Danish nouns#FORHOLDCategory:Danish entries with incorrect language header#FORHOLDCategory:Danish neuter nouns#FORHOLDCategory:Pages with entries#FORHOLDCategory:Pages with 4 entries#FORHOLD

1. relation
2. relationship
3. proportion
4. condition
5. ratio

Verb

forholdCategory:Danish non-lemma forms#FORHOLDCategory:Danish verb forms#FORHOLDCategory:Danish entries with incorrect language header#FORHOLDCategory:Pages with entries#FORHOLDCategory:Pages with 4 entries#FORHOLD

1. imperative of forholde

References

• “forhold” in Den Danske Ordbog

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

  Category:Norwegian Bokmål terms with audio pronunciation#FORHOLD

Etymology 1

From GermanCategory:Norwegian Bokmål terms derived from German#FORHOLD Verhältnis.

Etymology 2

References

• “forhold” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Etymology

From GermanCategory:Norwegian Nynorsk terms derived from German#FORHOLD Verhältnis.

Noun

forhold n (definite singular forholdet, indefinite plural forhold, definite plural forholda)Category:Norwegian Nynorsk lemmas#FORHOLDCategory:Norwegian Nynorsk nouns#FORHOLDCategory:Norwegian Nynorsk entries with incorrect language header#FORHOLDCategory:Norwegian Nynorsk neuter nouns#FORHOLDCategory:Pages with entries#FORHOLDCategory:Pages with 4 entries#FORHOLD

1. relation (the manner in which two things may be associated)
2. relationship (a romantic or sexual involvement)
3. proportion (the relation of one part to another or to the whole with respect to magnitude, quantity, or degree)
4. condition (the state or quality of something)
5. ratio

References

• “forhold” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.