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Hold back   /hoʊld bæk/   Listen
Hold back

verb
1.
Hold back, as of a danger or an enemy; check the expansion or influence of.  Synonyms: arrest, check, contain, stop, turn back.  "Check the growth of communism in South East Asia" , "Contain the rebel movement" , "Turn back the tide of communism"
2.
Keep under control; keep in check.  Synonyms: keep, keep back, restrain.  "Keep your temper" , "Keep your cool"
3.
Refrain from doing.  Synonym: forbear.
4.
Wait before acting.  Synonyms: hold off, wait.
5.
Secure and keep for possible future use or application.  Synonyms: hold, keep back, retain.  "I reserve the right to disagree"
6.
Hold back; keep from being perceived by others.  Synonyms: conceal, hold in.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Hold back" Quotes from Famous Books



... much: having been ravished, she gave herself away; why be niggardly now? And this is the destiny of her type, that they lose increasingly much, retaining ever less; what need to hold back now? The ground has been completely shifted: from half-measures to the immolation of all virtue. The type is well-known, and can be found at resorts and boarding-houses, where ...
— Look Back on Happiness • Knut Hamsun

... plains, some persons are in the habit of attaching them in pairs by their halters to a long, stout rope stretched between two wagons drawn by mules, each wagon being about half loaded. The principal object of the rear wagon being to hold back and keep the rope stretched, not more than two stout mules are required, as the horses aid a good deal with their heads in pulling this wagon. From thirty to forty horses may be driven very well in this manner, and, if they are wild, it is perhaps the safest method, except that of leading them ...
— The Prairie Traveler - A Hand-book for Overland Expeditions • Randolph Marcy

... that it should be a night attack, Captain Kearney decided otherwise. He considered, that although the risk might be greater, yet the force employed would be more consolidated, and that those who would hold back in the night dare not do so during the day. Moreover, that the people on shore in the battery, as well as those in the privateer, would be on the alert all night, and not expecting an attack during the day, would be taken off their guard. It was ...
— Peter Simple and The Three Cutters, Vol. 1-2 • Frederick Marryat

... because I think you bold! And yet you stand there laughing at me to my face. I think so more than ever now. I know it. Oh, you make me angry! Don't! I do not like persons who anger me and then laugh at me." This turned Brandon's smile into a laugh which he could not hold back. ...
— When Knighthood Was in Flower • Charles Major

... her concern, not mine," said the other; "I'm not saying as it's just right; you needn't do as she does—but you're not bound to pay all up at once, you might hold back a little each now and then, and you'd have summat to spare ...
— Frank Oldfield - Lost and Found • T.P. Wilson

... May out of the country, suppressing the fact of her complicity. He planned just how he could put her on a train and "shoot her to Los Angeles," as he worded it to himself. How she could take a boat there for Vancouver, and how he could hold back developments here until he knew she was safe. He figured the approximate cost and the hole it would make in his little savings account. He thought of everything, even to marrying her before she left, so that he could not ...
— Starr, of the Desert • B. M Bower

... a sneer. 'And you come here to tell me that! You infernal idiot! You come here to put yourself in my power like this! Courtenay Ivor, I always knew you were an ass, but I didn't ever know you were quite such a born idiot of a fellow as that. Hold back there, you image!' With a rapid dart, before you could see what he was doing, he passed a wire round your body and thrust two knobs into your hands. 'You're in my power now!' he exclaimed. 'You can't move ...
— Recalled to Life • Grant Allen

... her dress. I did not dream—I could not—that she was contemplating any such end to the atrocious crime—to which she had confessed. Her manner was too light, too airy and too frivolous—a manner adopted, as I now see, to forestall all questions and hold back all expressions of feeling on my part. 'Tie these hanging ends of ribbon to my wrist,' were her words. 'Tie them tight; a knot under and a bow on top. I am going out— There, don't say anything— What you want to talk about will keep ...
— The Filigree Ball • Anna Katharine Green

... my nature shrinks from public work, but whenever the mandate goes forth to declare on the housetops that which I have heard in the ear, I shall not dare to hold back. I conclude that whenever my Father needs my services, He will prepare me to obey the ...
— The Grimke Sisters - Sarah and Angelina Grimke: The First American Women Advocates of - Abolition and Woman's Rights • Catherine H. Birney

... enticement—to encourage them to get gain in corrupting and destroying our children? To hesitate over some vague ideal of human liberty when the sword is among us, slaying our best and dearest? Sir! while you hold back from the work of staying the flood that is desolating our fairest homes, the black waters ...
— Ten Nights in a Bar Room • T. S. Arthur

... restraint) 752; check &c (hindrance) 706. reluctance &c (unwillingness) 603; contraindication. V. dissuade, dehort^, cry out against, remonstrate, expostulate, warn, contraindicate. disincline, indispose, shake, stagger; dispirit; discourage, dishearten; deter; repress, hold back, keep back &c (restrain) 751; render averse &c 603; repel; turn aside &c (deviation) 279; wean from; act as a drag &c (hinder) 706; throw cold water on, damp, cool, chill, blunt, calm, quiet, quench; deprecate &c 766. disenchant, disillusion, ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget

... After she had said this to me, weeping she turned her lucent eyes, whereby she made me more speedy in coming. And I came to thee as she willed. Thee have I delivered from that wild beast that took from thee the short ascent of the beautiful mountain. What is it then? Why, why dost thou hold back? why dost thou harbor such cowardice in thy heart? why hast thou not daring and boldness, since three blessed Ladies care for thee in the court of Heaven, and my ...
— Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 11 • Various

... the work of the thief in the night and we know nothing till his work is done. And then, because we would resort to the same process of recovery that we would in the case of any common enemy, we hold back, forsooth, because that ...
— Confiscation, An Outline • William Greenwood

... of it. It won't taste good, but it's wet." He was gulping great swallows from the tin, as with the other hand he tried to hold back the flow. Endicott placed the bottle to his lips and was surprised to find that he emptied it almost at a draught. Again and again the Texan filled the bottle and the can as both in a frenzy of desire gulped the thick liquid. When, at length they were satiated, the blood ...
— The Texan - A Story of the Cattle Country • James B. Hendryx

... the living God, if he wants to marry you, let him come out and say so, and I won't hold back my ...
— Joyce of the North Woods • Harriet T. Comstock

... such as pleased him. One of the ablest of Canadian governors, La Galissoniere, seeing the feebleness of the colony compared with the vastness of its claims, advised the King to send ten thousand peasants to occupy the valley of the Ohio, and hold back the British swarm that was just then pushing its advance-guard over the Alleghanies. It needed no effort of the King to people his waste domain, not with ten thousand peasants, but with twenty times ten ...
— Montcalm and Wolfe • Francis Parkman

... assurance of its lasting he wished to decline taking office. They would not hear this, and represented to him that he was indispensable, and it ended in his giving way. It certainly would have been very unjustifiable of him, after going all lengths with them, to hold back at last, but it shows the opinion of the best men among them of the rottenness of the concern. Lord Grey declined taking office, but wrote to say that the Government should have all his support, and that he wished Howick to be included in it, which is the same thing ...
— The Greville Memoirs - A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IV, Vol. III • Charles C. F. Greville

... over," said Patty; "I think the French not only put the best foot forward, but the foot they hold back is usually ...
— Patty in Paris • Carolyn Wells

... this—and, noticing the direction the blacks had taken, returned home. After a feed and a rest we again set to work, and again the well fell in, but with less danger this time. It was clear that we could go no further without some sort of caisson to hold back ...
— Spinifex and Sand - Five Years' Pioneering and Exploration in Western Australia • David W Carnegie

... possible to cross the river till the ebb. Mochuda answered: —"Advance through the water before the others in the name of your Lord Jesus Christ for He is the way the truth and the life" [John 14:6]. As soon as they heard this command of Mochuda's Molua said to Colman, "Which of the two will you hold back—the stream above or the sea below?" Colman answered:—"Let each restrain that which is nearest to him"—for Molua was on the upper, or stream, side and Colman on the lower, or sea, side. Molua said to Colman—"Forbid you the sea side to flow ...
— Lives of SS. Declan and Mochuda • Anonymous

... a fool, Captain West," she burst forth at last, unable to hold back the words. "I have done my best for you, and you spurn ...
— The Case and The Girl • Randall Parrish

... he would not hold back with the truth! Didn't the Baron remember the repenting thief who had ...
— Married • August Strindberg

... it," McCoy assured him with supreme confidence. "There is plenty of time. She is bound to make it. And once inside, we'll put her before it; that will keep the smoke away from us and hold back the fire from ...
— South Sea Tales • Jack London

... the silence and seclusion of her room, and there could not longer hold back the bursting of her wrath. She went stone-blind in the fury of a passion that had never before showed its power. Lying upon her bed, sightless, voiceless, she was a writhing, living flame. And she tossed there while her fury burned and burned, and ...
— Riders of the Purple Sage • Zane Grey

... him. This hint we pretended not to understand, thinking it the wiser plan to maintain, if possible, the interval between us, as their number more than quadrupled our own. Finding this to be the case, the chief ordered the three other canoes to hold back, while he advanced toward us with his own. As soon as he came up with us he leaped on board the largest of our boats, and seated himself by the side of Captain Guy, pointing at the same time to the schooner, and repeating the word Anamoo-moo! and Lama-Lama! ...
— The Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume 3 (of 5) of the Raven Edition • Edgar Allan Poe

... day, when the Boy's rifle kept slipping and making a brake to hold back the sled, "I reckon you'll have to plant that rifle o' yours in the next big drift," said the Colonel; "one's all we ...
— The Magnetic North • Elizabeth Robins (C. E. Raimond)

... looked pretty serious at this, and they started to discuss it. One of them thought they had better hold back most of the gold, "and only spring it on people a little at ...
— The Voyage of the Hoppergrass • Edmund Lester Pearson

... Kirby grin at his answer. The plan was one after the Texan's heart, and Drew knew what it had meant to him to hold back from it. ...
— Ride Proud, Rebel! • Andre Alice Norton

... toiled round to the back door; and then Caleb saw that she had prepared for her return by leaving the doors of the cellar-case open, and laying down a board over the steps. She turned the wheelbarrow to descend; and Caleb, seeing his opportunity, ran before to hold back its weight. Amanda did not prevent him; she had no breath left for remonstrance. When the clock was safely in the cellar, she went up the steps again, hooked the bulkhead door, and turned, even in the darkness, unerringly to ...
— Meadow Grass - Tales of New England Life • Alice Brown

... and our good friends who have been so kind to us, and going, I know not whither. My woman's heart is weak, while my faith is strong. Thus far the Lord has been better to me than all my fears. Why, then, should I hold back, and feel so reluctant to enter the path His wisdom points out? I know if He were to lead me to prison, or to death, that it would be good for me. If He were to slay me, yet would I ...
— Woman on the American Frontier • William Worthington Fowler

... mean the amount of the top itself. Usually it is the spread and the height together. When you prune, you tend to hold back the total amount of the fruiting area of the tree. If you allow it to develop untouched you have ...
— Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Forty-Second Annual Meeting • Northern Nut Growers Association

... sluggish current was one thing; it was quite another to repeat the same operation against time, while surrounded and even cut off by a strong and active enemy, this too on the scale required to hold back the rushing waters of the Red River, at a depth sufficient for the passage of the heaviest of the gunboats and for a time long enough to let the whole fleet go by. Yet, bold as the bare conception seems, and stupendous as the work looks when regarded in detail, no sooner had it been suggested ...
— History of the Nineteenth Army Corps • Richard Biddle Irwin

... country as far as the Atlantic. Gnaeus Hosidius Geta, one of the peers, making a subsequent campaign, advanced at once against their general Salabus and conquered him two separate times. And when the latter after leaving a few soldiers near the frontier to hold back any who might pursue took refuge in the sandy part of the country, Geta ventured to follow him. First stationing a part of his army opposite the hostile detachment that was awaiting him he provided himself with as much water as was feasible, ...
— Dio's Rome, Vol. 4 • Cassius Dio

... go there very often!" he said to himself, as he descended the steps, furious with himself that he was obliged to hold back a sob. ...
— A Romance of Youth, Complete • Francois Coppee

... I had to hold back Caesar, who would have attacked the tortoise, which went steadily on, as I expected. Afraid of getting too close, lest we might alarm it and make it conceal itself, we kept at some distance. Our impatience, however, made us wish that it would ...
— In the Wilds of Florida - A Tale of Warfare and Hunting • W.H.G. Kingston

... system as this was one of tyranny and cruelty, and during several centuries it was tempered and softened only by the mediatorial influence of the Christian Church. This was the only power strong enough to shield the oppressed and to hold back the arm of the tyrant. Feudalism served, no doubt, some useful purposes. It was a method of riveting together, with iron nails, the conquerors and conquered, until they could come into a ...
— Ten Great Religions - An Essay in Comparative Theology • James Freeman Clarke

... Fergus, you will do your duty to the king. It would indeed be a shame for a Davenant to hold back; but, at Walter's age there can be no occasion for him, as yet, to take a commission. I am ready to give my son, as I gave my husband, to the king; and when Walter becomes a man, he too must go, if duty demands it; but for the present, assuredly ...
— Orange and Green - A Tale of the Boyne and Limerick • G. A. Henty

... it is all right,' he admitted grudgingly. 'But why does he hold back and thereby give one an impression of a desire on his part for secrecy? Why does he not come forward and make himself known? I do not mean to alarm you, my dear, but this is not the way an honest fellow-wayfarer should behave. ...
— The Desert Valley • Jackson Gregory

... of a not, except one; and that one referred to man's duty to man, and the promise attached to its fulfilment was only an earthly enjoyment. All the rest were restrictive; to curb this appetite, to bar that passion, to hedge this impulse, to check that disposition; in a word, to hold back the hand from open and positive transgression. Even the first, relating to His own Godhead and requirements, was but the first of the series of negatives, a pure and simple prohibition of idolatry. No reward of keeping this first great law, reaching beyond the boundary of a temporal ...
— A Walk from London to John O'Groat's • Elihu Burritt

... She had left her in the house by herself and she had got out of her room to the stair-head. Or they were in London at the crossing by the Bank and Mamma was frightened. She had to get her through the thick of the traffic. The horses pushed at Mamma and you tried to hold back their noses, but she sank down and slid away from you sideways under ...
— Mary Olivier: A Life • May Sinclair

... Harrison had to say, I took action at once. I bade him call in the guests, whom curiosity or interest still detained on the porch, and seat them in a certain room which I designated to him. Then, after telling him to send two men to the gates with orders to hold back all further carriages from entering, and two others to shovel up and cart away to the stable every particle of snow for ten feet each side of the front step, I asked to see Mr. Deane. But here my son whispered something into my ear, which ...
— The House in the Mist • Anna Katharine Green

... I implored; for Adderly was striking right and left to get free from the men. "Hold back! There's a ...
— Lords of the North • A. C. Laut

... letter to Governor Ovando, explaining that he wanted to buy another ship, and also that he was seeking protection from a hurricane that he saw approaching. Knowing the peculiarities of weather in those regions, he was so sure of the storm that he advised Ovando to hold back any vessels that might be about to depart ...
— Christopher Columbus • Mildred Stapley

... animal, in dread of losing him by his forming a junction with his friend, had bounded on to get between them and crouch ready to spring upon him; but Rob could not hold back now, and ...
— Rob Harlow's Adventures - A Story of the Grand Chaco • George Manville Fenn

... one apprehensive of some new, sudden, strange, and amazing thing; as when a man sees some strange sight in the air, or heareth some sudden or dismal sound in the clouds; why, as he is struck into a deep damp in his mind, so it is a wonder if he can keep or hold back ...
— The Pharisee And The Publican • John Bunyan

... adventure which at this very time befell, though it scarce belongs to my present chronicle. But it may be that, in time to come, faith will wax cold, and the very saints be misdoubted of men. It therefore behoves me not to hold back the truth which I know, and which this tale makes plain and undeniable even by Hussites, Lollards, and other miscreants. For he who reads must be constrained to own that there is no strait so terrible but the ...
— A Monk of Fife • Andrew Lang

... in raising what might be termed semi-hardy trees, is to grow them in sod, the ordinary quack grass, June grass, bluegrass or other natural grass sods which can be found on your planting site. Although this will probably hold back your tree development for a few years, until the roots are thoroughly established in the deeper soil beneath the sod roots, it is surprising how many species of trees will thrive in sod and perish on open cultivated ground. I can give no better example of this than ...
— Growing Nuts in the North • Carl Weschcke

... enemy's advantage of high positions north of the river failed to hold back the men from New York, from Iowa, Alabama, Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota and Indiana, who had relieved the hard fighting Yankees. These new American organisations went up against fresh German divisions that had been left behind with orders to hold at all cost. But nothing the enemy could ...
— "And they thought we wouldn't fight" • Floyd Gibbons

... come!" cried I, as a terrific yell from Jack sent the whole herd screaming down the hill. Now, Peterkin, being unable to hold back, crept a short way up a very steep grassy mound, in order to get a better view of the hogs before they came up; and just as he raised his head above its summit, two little pigs, which had outrun their companions, rushed over the top with the utmost precipitation. One of these brushed ...
— The Coral Island - A Tale Of The Pacific Ocean • R. M. Ballantyne

... as we met, which is not polite—every one in France salutes a gentleman. I've been in England, I like the English,' by this time his military attendants rode up, and seeing him alone in the midst of us were going to ride us down at once but the old boy beckoned with his hand for them to hold back, and continued his sarmont. 'I should wish you,' says he, quite pleasant, 'whilst you remain in France to be orderly, obliging, civil, and polite; it's always the best—now remember this: and here's something ...
— Railway Adventures and Anecdotes - extending over more than fifty years • Various

... feel desperate enough to open fire on us," suggested Jack, though he did not shrink or hold back when Tom advanced; for Jack Parmly did not have a drop of cowardly blood in ...
— Air Service Boys Over The Enemy's Lines - The German Spy's Secret • Charles Amory Beach

... ahead," added Jack, beginning to dress. "It will be something new, anyhow. It isn't like you, Tom, to hold back, even ...
— Tom Fairfield's Pluck and Luck • Allen Chapman

... blandly, and half-closed his eyes To ponder on my lecture in the shade. I doubt his memory much, his heart a little, And in some minor matters (may I say it?) Could wish him rather sager. But from thee God hold back wisdom yet for many years! Whether in early season or in late It always comes high-priced. For thy pure breast I have no lesson; it for me has many. Come throw it open then! What sports, what cares (Since there are none too young for these) engage Thy busy thoughts? ...
— A Wanderer in Florence • E. V. Lucas

... "Discharge Johnston and hold back his time-check. Then have him arrested for stealing, and wire the legal department at Denver ...
— The Taming of Red Butte Western • Francis Lynde

... to Ney. The guard was but the remnant of its original strength, for all its cavalry had been wrecked in wild charges against the British squares, and several battalions of its infantry were kept in reserve to hold back the Prussians and protect the baggage train. Nevertheless, the advance of this superb corps, the heroes of a hundred fights, who had seldom failed to hurl back the tide of battle at the most perilous junctures, was among the most impressive spectacles in the annals of war. They swerved ...
— The Political History of England - Vol XI - From Addington's Administration to the close of William - IV.'s Reign (1801-1837) • George Brodrick

... the circumstances In which Armida has disappeared," I urged, for I saw quite plainly that his sudden meeting with me had upset him, and that he was trying to hold back from me some story which he was ...
— The Czar's Spy - The Mystery of a Silent Love • William Le Queux

... reading about, I am not quite sure in which of our Reports—maybe Mr. Becker was the author, and that is this: He said that he cultivates until August after which he plants cover crops, and he sows cover crops that grow and they hold back this vegetative growth in the late part of the year, and it is really the late vegetative growth that causes the destruction. After he adopted that plan he had very much less winter killing in his plantation. That might be one way of helping ...
— Northern Nut Growers Association Incorporated 39th Annual Report - at Norris, Tenn. September 13-15 1948 • Various

... second story from without, and take us in the rear," I answered, "we ought to hold back the whole cowardly crew, so long ...
— My Lady of the North • Randall Parrish

... of the outskirts of Littleburg, Robert going as fast as he could drag his companion, and Abbott walking as slowly as he could hold back ...
— Fran • John Breckenridge Ellis

... who made the proposal; the others were inclined to hold back, but the plucky little fellow insisted, and it was agreed that Bowser's secret should be learned by keeping him company to the spot ...
— Through Forest and Fire - Wild-Woods Series No. 1 • Edward Ellis

... not like this affair from the first, the experiment of sliding down hill, having somewhat weakened my confidence in Guert Ten Eyck's judgment. Nevertheless, it would not do for me to hold back, when Mr. Worden led, and, after all, there was no great harm in recovering a supper that had been abstracted from our own house. Guert did not proceed, like ourselves, by the street, but he went with his party, out of a back ...
— Satanstoe • James Fenimore Cooper

... representatives to Jamestown. Plantations continued to multiply until the destruction of the massacre temporarily rolled back the number. For a time the settlements were reduced to, perhaps, a dozen. Even the massacre, however, could not long hold back what was becoming a tide. The reoccupation of abandoned areas and the utilization of new land was quickly the order of the day. In 1625 a total of 27 areas or communities were reported. In this surge of expansion the center of population now passed again from Jamestown and rested ...
— The First Seventeen Years: Virginia 1607-1624 • Charles E. Hatch

... to defend himself for what he had done. Cunningham had treated him outrageously. Besides, they weren't his papers. He had no business to hold back evidence in a murder case because it did not suit him to have it made public. Didn't Mr. Lane think he had done right in taking the papers from the safe when he had ...
— Tangled Trails - A Western Detective Story • William MacLeod Raine

... longer time to release than those on the rear. This feature is called retarded release, and although the triple valves near the locomotive commence to release before those in the rear, yet the exhaust of air from the brake cylinder is sufficiently slow to hold back the release of the brakes at the front end of the train long enough to insure a uniform release of the brakes on the train as a whole. This permits of releasing the brakes on very long trains at low speeds without ...
— The Traveling Engineers' Association - To Improve The Locomotive Engine Service of American Railroads • Anonymous

... kind o' b'longs to the church, anyway," said Captain Leezur sweetly; "has for years; don't pain me much as I knows on, but she ain't seound: if t'other one starts off kind o' skittish she 's sartin to hold back——" ...
— Vesty of the Basins • Sarah P. McLean Greene

... no, even when I wanted, oh, so terribly, to say yes and yes and yes." She squeezed her eyes tight shut to hold back ...
— The Sound of Silence • Barbara Constant

... I, (her eye, still averted, seemed to hold back the tear with difficulty, and she made a motion as if to rise,) "have I grieved you? Have I been importunate? Forgive me if I ...
— Arthur Mervyn - Or, Memoirs of the Year 1793 • Charles Brockden Brown

... than on the farm. Fresh from the plough, he could now and then snatch a half hour of study to some purpose; there was no "fresh from the school." Besides all which, he still found himself or fancied himself needed by his father, and whenever a pinch of work called for it he could not hold back his hand. ...
— Hills of the Shatemuc • Susan Warner

... lord," he said. "It must be my lot to die. You will not find me hold back when the ...
— Tom Tufton's Travels • Evelyn Everett-Green

... whoever you are," cried a voice from the room within, far different from that wail of distress which had guided my steps. "Hold back at ...
— The Caxtons, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... your own place; as the wife of the master of the house, you are its mistress. And if you knew how I long to see you actually filling that position; how glad I am to resign the reigns to such hands as yours, you need not hesitate or hold back." ...
— Elsie's Womanhood • Martha Finley

... of this advice, not only accepted it, but sent a message to Xerxes—as to a friend—advising him to make all haste, and saying that he would do his best to hold back the Greeks, who were eager to ...
— Historic Tales, vol 10 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality • Charles Morris

... are on foreign service, whether they are fighting or not, promotion comes twice as quickly as in time of peace, and orders and crosses are distributed by the gross. They are also able to make small fortunes out of forced loans from planters and suspects, and they undoubtedly hold back for themselves a great part of the pay of the men. A certain class of Spanish officer has a strange sense of honor. He does not consider that robbing his government by falsifying his accounts, or by making incorrect returns ...
— Cuba in War Time • Richard Harding Davis

... that preliminary work he is ready to start," remarked one of the spectators standing by. But no! the engine must be run at varying speeds, while the mechanics hold back the machine. This operation alone took three or four minutes, and all that the pilot proposed to do was to circle the aerodrome two or three times. An onlooker asked a mechanic if there were anything wrong with that particular machine. ...
— The Mastery of the Air • William J. Claxton

... finally. "Considine is too impulsive. He was not firm enough. Now I got an important letter from the agents to-day, saying that they could do nothing about the noise of the children. In the lease it expressly mentions them. I shall simply hold back the rent ...
— At Home with the Jardines • Lilian Bell

... know anything about strolling as they do in pictures. Hold out your arm with a crook in it and I'll slip my hand just inside where you'll hold it soft and warm like a bird in its nest.... Isn't his noble? And I holds back—excuse me—I HOLD back my skirts with my other hand, and this is the way we stroll, like an engraving out of the history of Louis the Fourteenth's court. Do, oh, do!" Her bright eyes glowed into his like ...
— Lahoma • John Breckenridge Ellis

... dear, from one of our first families,—very wealthy,—fine match,—pray, be civil,—smooth your hair, hold back your shoulders, and put down your parasol," murmured Aunt Pen, as the gentleman approached with as much pleasure in his countenance as it was consistent with manly dignity to express upon meeting two of the ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 12, August, 1863, No. 70 - A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics • Various

... ferreted out their secret was now too plain to admit a doubt. But what conceivable use did he mean to make of it? To interfere with the Cypriani's homegoing was beyond his power now. Did it better suit his mysterious purpose to hold back until the thing was done, in order to raise ...
— Captivating Mary Carstairs • Henry Sydnor Harrison

... were water, as the saying is, but nevertheless I turned out promptly. I had to. Other men were waking up. Even Newman, in the bunk opposite, had his eyes open; and he was regarding me in a very curious way. So I couldn't hold back. I was bully of the crowd, and I would not let the crowd think I was afraid to face anything, ...
— The Blood Ship • Norman Springer

... as much reverence for any man who ever did what he believed was right, and died in order to benefit mankind, as any man in this world. Do they treat an opponent with fairness? Are they investigating? Do they pull forward or do they hold back? Is science indebted to the Church for a single fact? Let us know what it is. What church has been the asylum for a persecuted truth? What reform has been inaugurated by the Church? Did the Church abolish slavery? ...
— Lectures of Col. R. G. Ingersoll, Volume I • Robert Green Ingersoll

... by the guns of the frigate, they would have been received at the points of boarding-pikes and with the muzzles of pistols presented at their heads. The determined looks of the sturdy man-of-war's men made the crew of the Indiaman hold back. Directly Ronald stepped on board he glanced his eye anxiously around; he had no longer any doubt that she was the "Osterley," but with not a face that met his gaze ...
— Ronald Morton, or the Fire Ships - A Story of the Last Naval War • W.H.G. Kingston

... she stands in the way of my ambition. It is true I will destroy her, for she wears the crown which I wish to possess; but never will I be so base as to pour into her very heart the poison by which she shall fall. Let her seek the poison for herself; I will not hold back her hand; I will not warn her. Let her seek the ways of sin herself: I will not tell her that she has erred; but I will, from afar, dog her, and watch each step, and listen for every word and sigh, and when she has committed a crime, ...
— Henry VIII And His Court • Louise Muhlbach

... rejoinders to next issue.' Nothing stands in the way of this, the only fair course, except Royce's insistence on his right to deprive me of the equality of treatment which I supposed he himself guaranteed in his—'as we ask none.' To hold back my reply to his libel for three months longer, merely because he is afraid to let it go forth without an attempt to break its force in the same number, would be disgracefully unjust in him and in the 'Journal.' His rejoinder ...
— A Public Appeal for Redress to the Corporation and Overseers of Harvard University - Professor Royce's Libel • Francis Ellingwood Abbot

... he wouldn't give his love to her. He would hold back, at least. He had reminded himself of the bridgeless gap that separated them, that they were of different spheres and that it only meant tragedy, stark and deep, for him to let himself go. He had fought with himself, had tried to shut his eyes ...
— The Snowshoe Trail • Edison Marshall

... need all the hands they can muster to hold back that army we saw passing through Brussels, I ...
— The Big Five Motorcycle Boys on the Battle Line - Or, With the Allies in France • Ralph Marlow

... Princess very much, so sweet was it that she could not hold back her tears. 'I am not crying because I am afraid to die,' she answered, 'but I am hurt enough to weep over my ugliness. I have nothing to live for, why should I cry for ...
— Edmund Dulac's Fairy-Book - Fairy Tales of the Allied Nations • Edmund Dulac

... blade between the head of Baptist and the hands of the Muscovites. They withdrew, uttering piercing cries, but one hand, more firmly entwined in the hair, remained hanging and spurted forth blood. Thus an eagle, when it buries one talon in a hare, catches with the other at a tree, in order to hold back the beast; but the hare, pulling, splits the eagle in two; the right talon remains on the tree in the forest; the left, covered with blood, the beast bears away ...
— Pan Tadeusz • Adam Mickiewicz

... starve if you hadn't. Coombe's a terrible healthy place and poor Doc. Simmonds didn't pay a call a week. I just felt like some one ought to warn you. I despise folks who hold back from telling things because they ain't quite pleasant. Know the worst, I always say; it's better in the end. Of course, as Mark says, your being a Presbyterian will make considerable diff'rence. Some folks thought Doc. Simmonds was pretty nigh ...
— Up the Hill and Over • Isabel Ecclestone Mackay

... of the sods, I think, is easily enough explained on the supposition that the geyser has a constriction at some point or another in its vent, and that the sods plug it up sufficiently to hold back the steam and water until they have accumulated sufficient power to blow out the obstructing body, and escape after it with a rush into the air. Precisely in the same way as a fermenting barrel of beer blows out its bung, and its fluid contents gush out, when its ...
— A Girl's Ride in Iceland • Ethel Brilliana Alec-Tweedie

... contact, they ejaculate more slowly then Christians. 'With Christians,' she said, 'it constantly happens that I am left unsatisfied because they ejaculate before me, while in coitus with Jews I sometimes ejaculate twice before the orgasm occurs in my partner, or, rather, I hold back the second orgasm until he is ready.' This is confirmed," my correspondent continues, "by what I was told by a Russian Jew, a student at the Zuerich Polytechnic, who had a Russian comrade living with a mistress, also a Russian ...
— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 3 (of 6) • Havelock Ellis

... can't get anywhere under the Constitution. Every time we make a move—check. It was adopted by aristocrats to hold back the people and that's what it's ...
— The Vision Spendid • William MacLeod Raine

... excavation in open, seamy rock, carried on for several weeks under about 45 pounds pressure. The character of the material through which the caisson is being sunk or upon which it may be resting at any time bears quite largely upon the ability of the men to stand the pressure necessary to hold back the water at that point. If the material be so porous as to permit a considerable leakage of air through it, there will naturally result a continuous change of air in the working chamber, and a corresponding relief of the men from the deleterious effects which are ...
— Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine • George M. Gould

... the difference in the sound of the wagon and the impact of the horses' hoofs on the rock trail. She turned and saw that something had gone wrong. They were coming down upon her at a sharp trot, stepping high, the wagon tongue thrust up between their heads as they tried to hold back the load. ...
— Sawtooth Ranch • B. M. Bower

... his leaping imagination drew for him. And here Garton's quiet voice was telling him that he had responsibilities, that he had work to do, that he, to whom she meant more than success or failure, life or death, must hold back from ...
— Under Handicap - A Novel • Jackson Gregory

... know thereby that it would strive to be more fit. And it showed—oh, unquestionably it showed!—the depth of his feeling. Quite clearly he had restrained a pen that longed to pour forth his heart, yet there were phrases in which his tenderness had been more than he could hold back, and it was those phrases which made the recipient hold her breath a little as she read them, wondering how, if the written words were almost more than she could bear, she ...
— The Twenty-Fourth of June • Grace S. Richmond

... muscular legs, hold back with all their might the heavily loaded little cars which would run down by themselves if let alone, and that so rapidly that they would rush into empty space with my most valuable chattels. Chrysantheme walks by ...
— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet

... were they clothed in green and wearing on breast and back the yellow stars of their Gens. Now they were nude as they had come into the world and standing there, each was holding out hands in horror, to hold back myriads of the Gnomes, who would have forced them to submerge themselves in the white flames of ...
— Astounding Stories of Super-Science, August 1930 • Various

... sharp turns in the tunnel," said McKildrick "and behind one of them a man with a revolver could hold back the lot!" ...
— The White Mice • Richard Harding Davis

... back gasping on the sand. He tore the enclosing coif from her face. In a vain effort to hold back death's hand for another second, Hornigold snatched a spirit flask from his belt and strove to force a drop between her lips. It was too late. She was gone. He knew the signs too well. He laid her ...
— Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer - A Romance of the Spanish Main • Cyrus Townsend Brady

... never going to appear at the breakfast table with aught other than a bright cheery face and a pleasant word for all about you. Some one has said that the first hour of the day is the critical one. Happy is the person who can wake with a song, or who can at least hold back the fears and the grumbles until a thought of gladness has established itself as the keynote ...
— The Girl Wanted • Nixon Waterman

... his own camp. The people whom he had sent to explore the spot reported that the approach to the castle was very difficult, and in truth impossible. Many urged the king to change his purpose in the matter; but he cried, 'Nay, what we resolved on at Laon stands: I would not hold back therefrom, though it were to save my life. The king's majesty would be vilified, if I were to fly before this scoundrel.' Forthwith, in spite of his corpulence, and with admirable ardor, he pushed on with his troops through ravines and roads encumbered with forests. ...
— A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times - Volume II. of VI. • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot

... high-handed proceeding; he has counted on the restraining effect of the public occasion; has counted on luck, which proverbially follows the bold. High-handed, his course, undeniably, but too much was at stake for any narrow consideration to hold back Sachs: the happiness of Eva,—of, as he says, at the conclusion of his announcement, "the amiable stainless one, who must never be made to regret that Nuremberg holds in such honour art and its professors!" Hearty ...
— The Wagnerian Romances • Gertrude Hall

... beginning of the slant, Jack Davis' face took on an anxious look, his mouth became firm and set, his hand tightened upon the reins, and his foot upon the brake, and with constant exclamation to his horses of "Easy now!—go easy!—hold back, my beauties!" he guided the ...
— Bert Lloyd's Boyhood - A Story from Nova Scotia • J. McDonald Oxley

... the grapes out of the skins. Cook the pulp five minutes and then rub through a sieve that is fine enough to hold back the seeds. Put the water, skins, and pulp into the preserving kettle and heat slowly to the boiling point. Skim the fruit and then add the sugar. ...
— Canned Fruit, Preserves, and Jellies: Household Methods of Preparation - U.S. Department of Agriculture Farmers' Bulletin No. 203 • Maria Parloa

... continued, "I have been stationed with General Pitain at Verdun, where I last saw you. Now we know that the Germans have drawn heavily from other fronts to make possible the Italian invasion. Other fronts now will have to be weakened to hold back General Byng — even to launch a counter- offensive, for we all know that Hindenburg will strike back. That leaves the Verdun situation somewhat ...
— The Boy Allies with Haig in Flanders • Clair W. Hayes

... sort of engagement to Aubrey Blaine—whom as you know, I was really nearer to marrying than I have been to marrying anybody. And yet, as I tried to explain to Will, I didn't WANT to marry Aubrey. Only the mischief with me is always that I can't hold back with one hand and give with the other... Will wasn't able to enter into my feelings about that affair in the very least or to understand how, when it came to the point, I realised that I COULDN'T sink to domesticity on seven hundred a year. Fancy taking a house in Pimlico or West Kensington, ...
— Lady Bridget in the Never-Never Land • Rosa Praed

... the danger," said Lady Bailquist quietly; "probably two-thirds of the available strength will hold back, but a third or even a sixth would be enough; it would redeem the parade from the calamity of fiasco, and it would be a nucleus to work on for the future. That is what we want, a good start, a preliminary rally. It is the first step that counts, that is ...
— When William Came • Saki

... at the end of the wagon almost immediately, and upon looking back there was in reality the barrel of a rifle forcing back the canvas curtain, and then a second barrel appeared; but the owners only used their weapons to hold back the curtain while their big-bearded faces peered in to see if the prisoners were safe. They disappeared directly, and I could hear muttering, and could smell the fumes of ...
— Charge! - A Story of Briton and Boer • George Manville Fenn

... not his hope be overcast and drear Because I, Death, am here to fix the measure Of life, even in blameless Arcady. Bay, laurel, myrtle, ivy never sere, And fields flower-decorated all the year, And streams that carry secrets to the sea, And hills that hold back something evermore Though wild their speech with clouds in thunder-roar,— Yea, every sylvan sight and peaceful tone Are thine to give thy days their purer zest. Let not the legend grieve thee on this stone. I Death am here. What then? My name ...
— Songs, Sonnets & Miscellaneous Poems • Thomas Runciman

... cried all the warriors together. "Good; then we will go up to the gateways to be ready. In three companies we will go, and with each will so one of the chief's white men. Ye have seen how strong is the white man's medicine. If any hold back, ...
— In Search of the Okapi - A Story of Adventure in Central Africa • Ernest Glanville



Words linked to "Hold back" :   act, hold down, move, bottle up, inhibit, control, refrain, suppress, confine, delay, moderate, curb, occult, cut down, hold on, defend, hold out, cut out



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