Meaning

(colloquial) A delay or wait..

Definitions by Sense

1. (colloquial) A delay or wait.
2. (slang) A robbery at gunpoint.
3. (bridge) The holding back of a card that could win a trick in order to use it later.
4. (in the plural) Women's stockings designed to be worn without suspenders.
5. (military) The inventory of nuclear material within a separation plant.
6. (Nigeria) A traffic jam.

Example Sentences

What is the hold-up?

The crossing caused serious congestion with long traffic hold-ups, and had been a bone of contention between the local authorities and the railway for over eighty years. It was controlled from Fletton Road Junction Signalbox (removed at the same time) and, until a wheel was installed in 1920, required two gatemen on each turn of duty.

This is a hold-up! Give us all your money.

They didn't get shot to death in hold-ups, strangled to death in rapes, stabbed to death in saloons, bludgeoned to death with axes by parents or children or die summarily by some other act of God.

This was another hand on which a holdup caused declarer to lose control and to go down in a sensational way: […]

In a holdup, a player delays taking a trick until opponents' entries are reduced.

And to the left is a portable gamma counter that tells us the holdup of plutonium recovery facilities.

During process operations and temporary shutdown, the holdup within the facility is also known as the in-process inventory.

Word Forms

• hold-ups

Synonyms for hold-up

Related Words

When Should You Use Hold-up?

Use hold-up when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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