hold-up play
- noun
- Jargon
:
juego de retención
- By using effective hold-up play, the striker was able to confuse the defenders and set up a teammate for a goal.
Examples
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His hold-up play gave his teammates enough time to create space for a better scoring opportunity.
-
His physique for such a young man was a standout quality, with his size and power being useful components of his hold-up play.
Blog text (14) -
The coach praised the forward's hold-up play, which allowed the team to maintain possession while they regrouped.
Synonyms
20
3.8
A delay that stops something from moving forward
1
2.9
A planned move in American football by the team with the ball to move it or score
Antonyms
- Jargon
9
3.5
A quick attack where a team moves fast down the court to score before the defense sets up
How Delaying
- Informal
4
5.0
- Jargon
Surface Forms
Morphology
hold-up + play
The compound is built from 'hold up' (understood as 'delay' or 'hold the ball up') plus 'play', so a B1 learner who knows those constituents could plausibly infer a general meaning of 'delaying or retaining play'. However, the specific tactical sense in football — deliberately receiving and retaining the ball to allow teammates to move into position — is specialized and not fully predictable from the parts alone, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Hold-up play comes from a simple football image: a player uses their body to hold-up the ball and slow the play, so teammates have time to move into better positions. So, 'hold-up play' means delaying the action to keep the ball and give the team time to attack.