to hold down a job
9
3.7
- phrasal verb
:
mantener un trabajo
- Despite facing numerous challenges, he managed to hold down a job for five years.
- able to hold down a job
- hold down a job for years
- still hold down a job
In the five years she's known him, she says he struggled to hold down a job and has resorted to stealing money from her.
- In the five years she's known him, she says he struggled to hold down a job and has resorted to stealing money from her.
- But, you know, there's holding down a job when you're a teenager and then there's holding a job as a long succession of jobs when you're older.
- And, you know, ruinous in many respects to not only moral life, but even being able to do things like hold down a job depending on what kind of drug we're talking about.
- You know, you're not going to find Stoics saying that you shouldn't hold down a job if you need a job in order to live, right.
- The reason she couldn't hold down a job is because she was slash is into drugs and would go on week long benders where she just wouldn't show up to work.
- You know, I mean, I really just went from, you know, I could like, couldn't even hold down a job in a bar.
Examples
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Martinez spoke from personal experience, noting that many assumed she would be unable to hold down a job.
Blog text (16) -
Well, Jane was never very good at holding down a job.
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Growing up, my dad could never hold down a job.
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And my mother could never hold down a job.
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When I was your age, I went to school, and I held down a job.
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Teach us a trade... so that when we get out of here... we'll be able to hold down a job.
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I am still not able to hold down a job.
Blog text (7) -
Some had trouble holding down a job because of alcohol abuse.
Academic text (1991) -
Just trying to hold down a job as a single parent is a struggle for anybody.
Blog text (2) -
The curriculum also includes courses on seeking and holding down a job and on environmental literacy.
Blog text (21)
Synonyms
15
3.9
To keep a job or position during difficult times
Antonyms
How Different
Surface Forms
Morphology
There is a clear connection between 'hold' (to keep/keep in place) and 'job' (employment), so a learner could plausibly infer the sense 'keep a job'. However, the particle 'down' participates in an English phrasal-verb pattern that adds a nuance of maintaining or securing over time and is somewhat idiomatic and variable cross-linguistically, so the exact meaning is not fully predictable without exposure.
Etymology
Hold down a job comes from the image of using your hands to hold something down so it does not move or fall, like keeping a heavy object in place. So, it means 'to manage to keep a job' even when things are hard.