The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Hold \Hold\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Held; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Holding. Holden, p. p., is obs. in elegant writing,
   though still used in legal language.] [OE. haldan, D. houden,
   OHG. hoten, Icel. halda, Dan. holde, Sw. h[*a]lla, Goth.
   haldan to feed, tend (the cattle); of unknown origin. Gf.
   Avast, Halt, Hod.]
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   1. To cause to remain in a given situation, position, or
      relation, within certain limits, or the like; to prevent
      from falling or escaping; to sustain; to restrain; to keep
      in the grasp; to retain.
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            The loops held one curtain to another. --Ex. xxxvi.
                                                  12.
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            Thy right hand shall hold me.         --Ps. cxxxix.
                                                  10.
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            They all hold swords, being expert in war. --Cant.
                                                  iii. 8.
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            In vain he seeks, that having can not hold.
                                                  --Spenser.
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            France, thou mayst hold a serpent by the tongue, . .
            .
            A fasting tiger safer by the tooth,
            Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold.
                                                  --Shak.
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   2. To retain in one's keeping; to maintain possession of, or
      authority over; not to give up or relinquish; to keep; to
      defend.
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            We mean to hold what anciently we claim
            Of deity or empire.                   --Milton.
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   3. To have; to possess; to be in possession of; to occupy; to
      derive title to; as, to hold office.
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            This noble merchant held a noble house. --Chaucer.
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            Of him to hold his seigniory for a yearly tribute.
                                                  --Knolles.
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            And now the strand, and now the plain, they held.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   4. To impose restraint upon; to limit in motion or action; to
      bind legally or morally; to confine; to restrain.
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            We can not hold mortality's strong hand. --Shak.
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            Death! what do'st? O, hold thy blow.  --Grashaw.
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            He had not sufficient judgment and self-command to
            hold his tongue.                      --Macaulay.
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   5. To maintain in being or action; to carry on; to prosecute,
      as a course of conduct or an argument; to continue; to
      sustain.
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            Hold not thy peace, and be not still. --Ps. lxxxiii.
                                                  1.
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            Seedtime and harvest, heat and hoary frost,
            Shall hold their course.              --Milton.
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   6. To prosecute, have, take, or join in, as something which
      is the result of united action; as to, hold a meeting, a
      festival, a session, etc.; hence, to direct and bring
      about officially; to conduct or preside at; as, the
      general held a council of war; a judge holds a court; a
      clergyman holds a service.
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            I would hold more talk with thee.     --Shak.
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   7. To receive and retain; to contain as a vessel; as, this
      pail holds milk; hence, to be able to receive and retain;
      to have capacity or containing power for.
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            Broken cisterns that can hold no water. --Jer. ii.
                                                  13.
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            One sees more devils than vast hell can hold.
                                                  --Shak.
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   8. To accept, as an opinion; to be the adherent of, openly or
      privately; to persist in, as a purpose; to maintain; to
      sustain.
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            Stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have
            been taught.                          --2 Thes.
                                                  ii.15.
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            But still he held his purpose to depart. --Dryden.
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   9. To consider; to regard; to esteem; to account; to think;
      to judge.
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            I hold him but a fool.                --Shak.
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            I shall never hold that man my friend. --Shak.
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            The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his
            name in vain.                         --Ex. xx. 7.
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   10. To bear, carry, or manage; as he holds himself erect; he
       holds his head high.
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             Let him hold his fingers thus.       --Shak.
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   To hold a wager, to lay or hazard a wager. --Swift.

   To hold forth,
       (a) v. t.to offer; to exhibit; to propose; to put
           forward. "The propositions which books hold forth and
           pretend to teach." --Locke.
       (b) v. i. To talk at length; to harangue.

   To held in, to restrain; to curd.

   To hold in hand, to toy with; to keep in expectation; to
      have in one's power. [Obs.]
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            O, fie! to receive favors, return falsehoods,
            And hold a lady in hand.              --Beaw. & Fl.

   To hold in play, to keep under control; to dally with.
      --Macaulay.

   To hold off, to keep at a distance.

   To hold on, to hold in being, continuance or position; as,
      to hold a rider on.

   To hold one's day, to keep one's appointment. [Obs.]
      --Chaucer.

   To hold one's own. To keep good one's present condition
      absolutely or relatively; not to fall off, or to lose
      ground; as, a ship holds her own when she does not lose
      ground in a race or chase; a man holds his own when he
      does not lose strength or weight.

   To hold one's peace, to keep silence.

   To hold out.
       (a) To extend; to offer. "Fortune holds out these to you
           as rewards." --B. Jonson.
       (b) To continue to do or to suffer; to endure. "He can
           not long hold out these pangs." --Shak.

   To hold up.
       (a) To raise; to lift; as, hold up your head.
       (b) To support; to sustain. "He holds himself up in
           virtue."--Sir P. Sidney.
       (c) To exhibit; to display; as, he was held up as an
           example.
       (d) To rein in; to check; to halt; as, hold up your
           horses.
       (e) to rob, usually at gunpoint; -- often with the demand
           to "hold up" the hands.
       (f) To delay.

   To hold water.
       (a) Literally, to retain water without leaking; hence
           (Fig.), to be whole, sound, consistent, without gaps
           or holes; -- commonly used in a negative sense; as,
           his statements will not hold water. [Colloq.]
       (b) (Naut.) To hold the oars steady in the water, thus
           checking the headway of a boat.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Holding \Hold"ing\, n.
   1. The act or state of sustaining, grasping, or retaining.
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   2. A tenure; a farm or other estate held of another.
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   3. That which holds, binds, or influences. --Burke.
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   4. The burden or chorus of a song. [Obs.] --Shak.
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   Holding note (Mus.), a note sustained in one part, while
      the other parts move.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

holding
    n 1: the act of retaining something [syn: retention,
         keeping, holding]
    2: something owned; any tangible or intangible possession that
       is owned by someone; "that hat is my property"; "he is a man
       of property"; [syn: property, belongings, holding]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

169 Moby Thesaurus words for "holding":
   absolute interest, absorbing, adverse possession, alodium,
   arresting, attractive, bearing, benefit, blessed with, block,
   board lot, bolstering, bottling up, bracing, burdened, burgage,
   buttressing, carrying, claim, clinging, colony, common, compelling,
   compulsive, consuming, contingent interest, corking up, de facto,
   de jure, dependency, derivative title, driving, dummy share,
   easement, enchanting, enfeoffed, engaging, engrossing, enthralling,
   equitable interest, equity, estate, even lot, fascinating,
   fee fief, fee position, fee simple, fee simple absolute,
   fee simple conditional, fee simple defeasible,
   fee simple determinable, fee tail, feodum, feud, fiefdom,
   fractional lot, frankalmoign, free socage, freehold, full lot,
   gavelkind, grasping, gripping, having, having and holding,
   having title to, hold, holding in, holdings, hypnotic, impelling,
   in possession of, inhibition, interest, keeping, knight service,
   landed, landholding, landowning, lay fee, lease, leasehold,
   legal claim, legal possession, limitation, locking in, lot,
   magnetic, maintaining, maintenance, mandate, master of, mesmeric,
   mesmerizing, obsessing, obsessional, obsessive, occupancy,
   occupation, occupying, odd lot, original title, owning, part,
   percentage, possessed of, possessing, possession, preference share,
   prehension, preoccupancy, preoccupation, preoccupying,
   prepossession, prescription, preservation, propertied, property,
   property rights, property-owning, propping, proprietary rights,
   repression, retainment, retention, retentive, retentiveness,
   retentivity, right, right of entry, round lot, seisin, seized of,
   settlement, share, shoring, socage, spellbinding, squatting, stake,
   stockholding, stockholdings, strict settlement, sublease,
   supporting, supportive, suppression, suspensory, sustaining,
   sustentative, tenacious, tenacity, tenancy, tenantry, tenure,
   tenure in chivalry, tenured, title, trust, underlease,
   undertenancy, upholding, use, usucapion, vested interest,
   villein socage, villeinhold, villenage, worth