a running back's ability to find holes in the defensive line
especially: the area of a baseball field between the positions of shortstop and third baseman
(3)
: a defect in a crystal (as of a semiconductor) that is due to an electron's having left its normal position in one of the crystal bonds and that is equivalent in many respects to a positively charged particle
Noun
I have a hole in my sock.
He fixed the hole in the roof.
a mouse hole in the wall
The dog dug a deep hole.
Her putt rolled right into the hole.
She made a birdie on the seventh hole.
The course has 18 holes. Verb
She holed a long putt for a birdie. holed the target with a round of shots
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Noun
Critters crawl out from their winter hidey holes to set up camp in your yard (and sometimes your walls).—👁 Image Alora Bopray, USA Today, 4 Apr. 2026 Once soil health improves, many gardeners find that digging individual planting holes is sufficient for establishing crops.—👁 Image Anthony Reardon, Kansas City Star, 4 Apr. 2026
Verb
Mirroring the 3-star wig cap structure, this wig featured three combs (left-side, right-side, nape), a drawstring, wig band insertion holes, and a 13×4 lace.—👁 Image Noel Cymone Walker, StyleCaster, 1 Apr. 2026 Fitzpatrick, who missed four birdie chances from inside 10 feet in a seven-hole stretch around the turn, holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-3 15th to take the lead, only for Lipsky — playing in the group behind him — to make a 7-foot birdie on the 14th to catch him.—👁 Image Dallas Morning News, 22 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for hole
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English hole, holle, going back to Old English hol "hollow place, cave, pit," noun derivative from neuter of hol "hollow, deeply concave, sunken," going back to Germanic *hula- (whence also Old Saxon & Old High German hol "hollow," Old Norse holr), probably going back to Indo-European *ḱuH-ló- (with assumed shortening of pretonic vowel), zero-grade derivative of a base *ḱeu̯H- "hollow," whence, with varying ablaut and suffixation, Greek koîlos, kóïlos "hollow, deep" (from *ḱou̯H-ilo-), Latin cavus "hollow, concave" (from *ḱou̯H-o-), Middle Irish cúa "hollow space, cavity," Middle Welsh ceu "hollow, empty" (both from *ḱou̯H-i̯o-?), Old Church Slavic sui "vain, empty" (from *ḱou̯H-i̯o-)
Verb
Middle English holen, going back to Old English holian, derivative of holhole entry 1
First Known Use
Noun
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
