ahold

American

[uh-hohld] / əˈhoʊld /

noun

Informal. a hold or grasp (often followed byof ).

He took ahold of my arm. Grab ahold!

adverb

Nautical Archaic. close to the wind and on a single tack.

to keep a vessel ahold.

idioms

get ahold of, hold.

Etymology

Origin of ahold

First recorded in 1600–10; a- ¹ + hold ¹ (noun)

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Blinking hard, I ducked his next swing and grabbed ahold of his left hand.

From Literature

Before I could second-guess myself, I’d grabbed ahold of the camera and given it a hard twist.

From Literature

“You can’t change your iris if someone does manage to get ahold of that information.”

From The Wall Street Journal

“Get ahold of yourself,” Major Puff ordered when his feet refused to march and his wings refused to flap.

From Literature

“I guess they’ve saved a little, Grandma,” I said, “but I don’t think it’s very much. Papa can’t seem to get ahold of much money. He gave up his smoking tobacco, and Mama has been saving her egg money. She doesn’t order anything out of the catalogue any more. They’re saving every dime they can, but I don’t think they’ve saved very much.”

From Literature

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023