Definition of Holdfast

1. Noun. Restraint that attaches to something or holds something in place.


Definition of Holdfast

1. n. Something used to secure and hold in place something else, as a long flat-headed nail, a catch a hook, a clinch, a clamp, etc.; hence, a support.

Definition of Holdfast

1. Noun. Something to or by which an object can be securely fastened. ¹

2. Noun. (zoology) A root-like structure that anchors aquatic sessile organisms, such as seaweed, other sessile algae, stalked crinoids, benthic cnidarians, and sponges, to the substrate. ¹

3. Noun. (archaic medicine) Actinomycosis. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Holdfast

1. a fastening device [n -S]

Medical Definition of Holdfast

1. 1. Something used to secure and hold in place something else, as a long fiat-headed nail, a catch a hook, a clinch, a clamp, etc.; hence, a support. "His holdfast was gone." 2. A conical or branching body, by which a seaweed is attached to its support, and differing from a root in that it is not specially absorbent of moisture. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Holdfast

holdawayites
holdback
holdbacks
holddown
holddowns
holde
holded
holden
holdenite
holder
holderbat
holderbats
holders
holdest
holdeth
holdfast (current term)
holdfasts
holding
holding a candle
holding action
holding all of the aces
holding all of the cards
holding all the aces
holding all the cards
holding back
holding cell
holding cells
holding companies
holding company
holding deal

Literary usage of Holdfast

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country (1866)
"THE PASSION OF MARTIN holdfast. were ten of us ; but four JL brothers and five sisters had died ere I reached manhood. So, too, had my father and mother. ..."

2. A Select Collection of Old Plays: In Twelve Volumes ; with Additional Notes by Isaac Reed, Robert Dodsley, Octavius Gilchrist, John Payne Collier (1825)
"holdfast. Not any, sir; and he has sold all his cloaths. ... holdfast. Faith, sir, his occasions are so great, that he must have money, or else he can buy ..."

3. A Treatise on the Law of Mortgages by John Joseph Powell, Thomas Coventry (1826)
"... in the interim between the admittance and surrender, and recover mesne profits from the time of the surrender. holdfast v. Clapham, l TR 600. Roe v. ..."

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