offhold
To retain.
Verb
- To retain.
- To hold off; prevent; refrain; avoid; shun.
- A scleral rim should be maintained in contact lenses to off-hold and balance the corneal portion from the cornea, preventing exertion of any pressure. - 1950, Washington Institute of Medicine, General practice clinics:
- No, Love, you must be shunned by every means, offheld and offstood afar, for the man that has fallen headlong into love comes o greater grief than if he cast himself off a cliff. - 1968, Titus Maccius Plautus, Paul...
- The mighty foundation of massive natural stone, in the Mediterranean realm, in India as well as in Middle- and South America, almost always represents the world of the toiling earthlings who have to off-hold the demons...
Origin
From Middle English ofholden, from Old English ofhealdan (“to withhold, retain”), equivalent to off- + hold. Cognate with Dutch afhouden (“to detain, deter”), German abhalten (“to discourage, prevent, deter”).