Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#HOLDFORTH

Verb

hold forth (third-person singular simple present holds forth, present participle holding forth, simple past and past participle held forth)Category:English lemmas#HOLDFORTHCategory:English verbs#HOLDFORTHCategory:English phrasal verbs#HOLDFORTHCategory:English phrasal verbs formed with %22forth%22#HOLDFORTHCategory:English multiword terms#HOLDFORTHCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#HOLDFORTHCategory:Pages with entries#HOLD%20FORTHCategory:Pages with 1 entry#HOLD%20FORTH

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#HOLDFORTH) To extend or offer, propose.
2. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#HOLDFORTH) To talk at great length.

   Synonyms: expatiate, harangue

   • 1908, R. Forsythe, “Our Hippopotamus Hunt”, in The Wide World Magazine, volume XX, London: George Newnes, Ltd., page 400:

     Behind him an excitable Frenchman was holding forth in declamatory style to a group of astonished residents.

     Category:English terms with quotations#HOLDFORTH

   • 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 5, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

     The girls all liked to hear him talk. They often gathered in a little circle while he sat on a bench, and held forth to them, laughing.

     Category:English terms with quotations#HOLDFORTH

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     […] they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans.

     Category:English terms with quotations#HOLDFORTH

   • 2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN, page 55:

     Warmed to the woman somewhat, I admit it. She holds forth like a man and smokes myrrhy cigarettes through a rhino-horn holder.

     Category:English terms with quotations#HOLDFORTH