Word.ws English Dictionary

hold short

hold short verb: to wait before entering a runway or a taxiway until given clearance to proceed.

Verb

hold short (third-person singular simple present holds short, present participle holding short, simple past and past participle held short)

  1. (intransitive) To wait before entering a runway or a taxiway until given clearance to proceed.
    • Can I cross runway 4L? — No, hold short of 4L for now.

Forms of hold short

third-person singular presentholds short
present participleholding short
past participleheld short
pastheld short

Questions about hold short

What does hold short mean?
Hold short means to wait before entering a runway or a taxiway until given clearance to proceed.
What part of speech is hold short?
Hold short is a verb.
What is the past tense of hold short?
The past tense of hold short is held short.

Words near hold short in the dictionary

  1. hold outs
  2. hold over
  3. hold over someone's head
  4. hold ransom
  5. hold serve
  6. hold short
  7. hold someone's feet to the fire
  8. hold someone's hand
  9. hold space
  10. hold still
  11. hold sway

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hold short (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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