to hole up
63
6.8
- phrasal verb
- /hoʊl ʌp/
- Informal
:
refugiarse en
- Savage is holed up in that house.
So we were holed up in, in a flat in Manchester.
- So we were holed up in, in a flat in Manchester.
- I'm in the biggest city in Latin America, Miami, and I'm holed up in a hotel.
- After the shooter entered, my God it makes your heart hurt just learning that they spent an hour trying to track down keys to the classroom where the suspect was holed up.
- They've been, you know, holed up with their wife and children, you know, and they're, they're really like socially, they forgot how to behave.
- There's, there's all kinds of proof in terms of Joe trying to help him out financially when he's, you know, holed up in a, in a hotel with the, his lady friends.
Examples
-
He's currently holed up inside the Prague Continental... room 3-1-5.
-
We believe they're holed up in the state capitol building.
-
We find a nice little place to hole up in.
-
In the Army, he had learned to hole up when the brass had a row.
Fiction book (2001) -
We were holed up in that house playing happy family for weeks!
-
Right now we're holed up in buses.
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"I was thinking I'd hole up with my cousins, out toward Retego Bay?"
Fiction book (1990) -
He's holed up at city hall, surrounded by his army.
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She's been holed up for five days in a Pittsburgh hotel doing highly choreographed debate practice sessions.
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The activists decided to hole up in the abandoned house to avoid being found by the police.
Synonyms
76
5.6
To stay in a secret place to avoid danger or trouble
16
7.5
To stay in one safe place and wait until danger passes
1
6.7
To stay alone in a safe place and avoid contact with others
1
5.8
To stay in a safe place to avoid danger
Antonyms
How Hidden
- Informal
63
6.8
- Informal
76
5.6
2
6.7
36
3.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
hole + up
The sense 'to stay in a place to hide or take refuge' is partly derivable from 'hole' (a shelter-like opening) combined with the particle 'up' suggesting location/completion, so learners can envisage going into a hole to hide. However, the construction verbalizes a noun and uses a phrasal-verb particle in a somewhat metaphorical, non-literal way (not necessarily literally entering a hole), so the exact verbal meaning is not fully predictable for an average B1 learner.
Etymology
Hole up comes from the image of a person or group hiding in a small place, like a hole, and not coming out. So, it now means 'to stay in a place and avoid leaving', often to hide or keep safe.