to hold someone's hand
313
2.8
- phrasal verb
- Informal
- All the way to Saint Elizabeth's, she held Rose's hand.
- said, holding Sharee's hand
- held each other's hands and kissed
- holding the little girl's hand
Examples
-
She would sit and hold people's hands and counsel them.
-
A young couple sat together, the man holding the woman's hand near her IV pole.
Fiction book (2002) -
Can I hold your hand?
-
- I'll hold your hand.
-
When you feel scared, hold someone's hand and look into their eyes.
-
Mother Green then held Viola's hand tight in hers.
Fiction book (2002) -
Mack reaches down and holds Lottie's hand.
Fiction book (1993) -
When you feel anxious about the presentation, just hold someone's hand for comfort.
-
As they prepared for the roller coaster ride, she offered to hold his hand to ease his nerves.
-
On the first day of school, many children feel scared, so teachers encourage them to hold someone's hand.
Synonyms
115
3.4
To hold something tightly with the hands or because of strong feeling
84
1.1
To take and hold something firmly with the hands
53
3.4
To hold tightly to someone or something because of fear, need, affection
39
2.6
To hold a person or thing tightly with your hands
8
3.2
Hold someone's arm to help or guide them while walking
6
1.0
To hold someone tightly in your arms to show affection
Antonyms
How Supportive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to support, comfort, or guide someone' is directly derivable from combining 'hold' (to take and support) with 'someone's hand' (physical contact used for guidance or reassurance). This physical-to-figurative extension is cross-linguistically common and follows a transparent compositional pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will likely infer the intended supportive meaning from context.
Etymology
The phrase hold someone's hand comes from the simple image of a person taking another's hand to hold, guide, or comfort them. That's why it now means 'to support, comfort, or guide someone'.