"hold one's water" meaning in English

See hold one's water in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-hold one's water.ogg Forms: holds one's water [present, singular, third-person], holding one's water [participle, present], held one's water [participle, past], held one's water [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|hold<,,held> one's water}} hold one's water (third-person singular simple present holds one's water, present participle holding one's water, simple past and past participle held one's water)
  1. (physiology, dated) To restrain one's urge to urinate. Tags: dated Categories (topical): Physiology Synonyms: hold it Related terms: hold water, hold my beer
    Sense id: en-hold_one's_water-en-verb-LfrMiMoT Categories (other): English predicates, Pages with 1 entry Disambiguation of English predicates: 66 34 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 46 54 Topics: medicine, physiology, sciences
  2. (idiomatic) To be patient; to control one's impulses. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: wait
    Sense id: en-hold_one's_water-en-verb-f~PVwpPo Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English light verb constructions, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 39 61 Disambiguation of English light verb constructions: 39 61 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 46 54 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 35 65

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "holds one's water",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "holding one's water",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "held one's water",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "held one's water",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "hold<,,held> one's water"
      },
      "expansion": "hold one's water (third-person singular simple present holds one's water, present participle holding one's water, simple past and past participle held one's water)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Physiology",
          "orig": "en:Physiology",
          "parents": [
            "Biology",
            "Medicine",
            "Sciences",
            "Healthcare",
            "All topics",
            "Health",
            "Fundamental",
            "Body"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "66 34",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English predicates",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "46 54",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1877, Shirley Bragg MD, “Structure of the Male Urethra, with Report of Cases,”, in Atlanta Medical and Surgical Journal, Volume 14, pages 645–6:",
          "text": "[…] and if there is much oozing of blood, the application of ice to the penis. The patient is then instructed to hold his water as long as possible.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To restrain one's urge to urinate."
      ],
      "id": "en-hold_one's_water-en-verb-LfrMiMoT",
      "links": [
        [
          "physiology",
          "physiology"
        ],
        [
          "restrain",
          "restrain"
        ],
        [
          "urinate",
          "urinate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(physiology, dated) To restrain one's urge to urinate."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "word": "hold water"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "59 41",
          "word": "hold my beer"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "hold it"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "medicine",
        "physiology",
        "sciences"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "39 61",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "39 61",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English light verb constructions",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "46 54",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "35 65",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Hold your water, I'll get to you in a minute.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Thomas Swan, chapter 1, in The Da Vinci Deception: An Inspector Jack Oxby Novel, →ISBN:",
          "text": "\"C'mon, move it! Get your ass in gear!\" […]\n\"Hold your water!\" Stiehl yelled back. \"I'm writing farewell letters.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be patient; to control one's impulses."
      ],
      "id": "en-hold_one's_water-en-verb-f~PVwpPo",
      "links": [
        [
          "patient",
          "patient"
        ],
        [
          "impulse",
          "impulse"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To be patient; to control one's impulses."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "wait"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-hold one's water.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/3c/En-au-hold_one%27s_water.ogg/En-au-hold_one%27s_water.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/En-au-hold_one%27s_water.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "hold one's water"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English light verb constructions",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English predicates",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "holds one's water",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "holding one's water",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "held one's water",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "held one's water",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "hold<,,held> one's water"
      },
      "expansion": "hold one's water (third-person singular simple present holds one's water, present participle holding one's water, simple past and past participle held one's water)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "hold water"
    },
    {
      "word": "hold my beer"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English dated terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:Physiology"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1877, Shirley Bragg MD, “Structure of the Male Urethra, with Report of Cases,”, in Atlanta Medical and Surgical Journal, Volume 14, pages 645–6:",
          "text": "[…] and if there is much oozing of blood, the application of ice to the penis. The patient is then instructed to hold his water as long as possible.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To restrain one's urge to urinate."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "physiology",
          "physiology"
        ],
        [
          "restrain",
          "restrain"
        ],
        [
          "urinate",
          "urinate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(physiology, dated) To restrain one's urge to urinate."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "hold it"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "medicine",
        "physiology",
        "sciences"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Hold your water, I'll get to you in a minute.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Thomas Swan, chapter 1, in The Da Vinci Deception: An Inspector Jack Oxby Novel, →ISBN:",
          "text": "\"C'mon, move it! Get your ass in gear!\" […]\n\"Hold your water!\" Stiehl yelled back. \"I'm writing farewell letters.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be patient; to control one's impulses."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "patient",
          "patient"
        ],
        [
          "impulse",
          "impulse"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To be patient; to control one's impulses."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "wait"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-hold one's water.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/3c/En-au-hold_one%27s_water.ogg/En-au-hold_one%27s_water.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/En-au-hold_one%27s_water.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "hold one's water"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-18 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (e4a2c88 and 4230888). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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