hold one's own
English
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb
hold one's own (third-person singular simple present holds one's own, present participle holding one's own, simple past and past participle held one's own)
- (idiomatic) To demonstrate oneself to be capable; to provide a respectable performance or worthy competition; to stick up for oneself.
- 1877, R. D. Blackmore, chapter 6, in Erema: My Father's Sin:
- At any rate, he was like John Bull in one respect: he was sturdy and square, and fit to hold his own with any man.
- 1904, Joseph Conrad, chapter 2, in Nostromo:
- At the receptions . . . Antonia could hold her own in a discussion with two or three men at a time.
- 1909, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 19, in The Gem Collector:
- If it came to blows, the younger man could not hope to hold his own with the huge policeman.
- 1941 May, “Notes and News: William Stroudley”, in Railway Magazine, page 234:
- In his view, this eminent locomotive engineer had very decided opinions of his own, and was not afraid of putting them into practice; but a weakness lay in the fact that there was no one on his staff in a position sufficiently strong to hold his own with Stroudley in argument.
- 2007, David Runk, "Competition Heats Up In Truck Market," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 4 April, p. E8 (retrieved 4 Nov 2010):
- But Ford, and Chrysler continued to hold their own against the latest competition from the Japanese.
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Synonyms
- stand tall
Translations
demonstrate oneself to be capable
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