forhold

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English[edit]

WOTD – 12 September 2021

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English forholden (“to withhold; to keep (a corpse) unburied”) [and other forms],[1] from Old English forhealdan (“to keep or hold back (something), withhold; to hold away; to disregard, neglect; to hold wrongly, not to keep in good condition”), from for- (prefix meaning ‘away from; wrongly’) + healdan (“to grasp, hold fast; to possess”)[2] (from Proto-West Germanic *haldan (“to hold; to keep”), from Proto-Germanic *haldaną (“to hold; to keep”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover; to conceal, hide”)). The English word is analysable as for- +‎ hold, and is cognate with Danish forholde (“to relate”), Dutch verhouden (“to relate”), Low German vorholden (“to detain”), German verhalten (“to control, restrain”), Norwegian forholde (“to deal”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

forhold (third-person singular simple present forholds, present participle forholding, simple past forheld, past participle forheld or forholden)

  1. (transitive, archaic, rare) To detain, hold back, or hold up (someone or something); also, to retain or withhold (something).
    • [c. 1425, Giraldus Cambrensis [i.e., Gerald of Wales], “Chapter XLIV [MS. Trinity College, Dublin, E. 2. 31]”, in Frederick J[ames] Furnivall, editor, The English Conquest of Ireland. A.D. 1166–1185. Mainly from the ‘Expugnatio Hibernica’ of Giraldus Cambrensis. […] (in Middle English), London: Publisht for the Early English Text Society, by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., […], published 1896, →OCLC, page 108:
      And thegħ he lang ther-to-for was ded, for drede of Iresshe-men, he was for-hold tyl Reymondes comes, & the meygnees, ynto leynestre.
      And though he [Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke] long before that time was dead, for fear of the Irishmen, he was forheld [his burial was held back to conceal the death] till Raymond [FitzGerald] came, with the meinies [military troops], into Leinster.]
    • 1624 May 11, “[Will Register for 1625] ROGER PAYNE of Easton, yeo. 1 May 1624 [Julian calendar]”, in Marion E. Allen, editor, Wills of the Archdeaconry of Suffolk 1625–1626 (Suffolk Records Society Series; XXXVII), Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press, Boydell & Brewer, published 1995, →ISBN, paragraph 139, page 72:
      [T]estator reserves the right of egress & regress to fetch such goods & implements in the pightle called King's pightle alias Pitmans, now occupied by Thomas Butler; if Thomas Butler foreholds any thing which is above mentioned, then said Thomas & his heirs to loose all benefit from this will.
    • 1682, Tho[mas] Comber, “Of the English Laws for Tithes”, in An Historical Vindication of the Divine Right of Tithes, from Scripture, Reason, and the Opinion and Practice of Jews, Gentiles, and Christians in All Ages. […], London: […] S. Roycroft, for Robert Clavel […], →OCLC, §. IV and V, page 171:
      King Alfred, his Son, when he made the League with Guthran King of the Danes [i.e., Guthrum], An[no] 878. made a Law to lay pecuniary Mulcts on all Engliſh or Danes, who ſhould detain or forhold their Tithes, the Dane being to forfeit Twenty ſhillings, and the Engliſh man, Thirty […]
    • 1911 June 24, Justice Pearce, Maryland Court of Appeals, State v. Potomac Valley Coal Co., 116 Md. 380, page 400:
      When the subject of contract is lawful, not public in its character, and the exercise of it is purely private and personal to the parties it can not be for holden or limited by the Legislature.
      According to the judgment the passage is a quotation from State v. Goodwill, 33 W. Va. 188 (1889), but the passage does not appear in the latter case.

Usage notes[edit]

Not to be confused with forehold (“to hold or believe (something) beforehand; to assume; to anticipate, to predict”).

Translations[edit]

to detain, hold back, or hold up (someone or something) — see detain,‎ hold back
to retain or withhold (something) — see retain,‎ withhold

References[edit]

  1. ^ “forhōlden, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “† forhold, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2019.

Anagrams[edit]

Danish[edit]

Danish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia da

Etymology[edit]

From the verb forholde, ultimately from Middle Low German vorholden.

Noun[edit]

forhold n (singular definite forholdet, plural indefinite forhold)

  1. relation
  2. relationship
  3. proportion
  4. condition
  5. ratio

Inflection[edit]

Declension of forhold
neuter
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative forhold forholdet forhold forholdene
genitive forholds forholdets forholds forholdenes

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Verb[edit]

forhold

  1. imperative of forholde

References[edit]

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From German Verhältnis.

Noun[edit]

forhold n (definite singular forholdet, indefinite plural forhold, definite plural forholda or forholdene)

  1. relation (the manner in which two things may be associated)
  2. relationship (a romantic or sexual involvement)
  3. proportion (the relation of one part to another or to the whole with respect to magnitude, quantity, or degree)
  4. condition (the state or quality of something, e.g., værforhold: weather conditions)
  5. ratio
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Verb[edit]

forhold

  1. imperative of forholde

References[edit]

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From German Verhältnis.

Noun[edit]

forhold n (definite singular forholdet, indefinite plural forhold, definite plural forholda)

  1. relation (the manner in which two things may be associated)
  2. relationship (a romantic or sexual involvement)
  3. proportion (the relation of one part to another or to the whole with respect to magnitude, quantity, or degree)
  4. condition (the state or quality of something)
  5. ratio

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

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