Word.ws English Dictionary

holding over someone's head

holding over someone's head is the present participle and gerund of hold over someone's head.

Meaning of hold over someone's head

Verb

hold over someone's head (third-person singular simple present holds over someone's head, present participle holding over someone's head, simple past and past participle held over someone's head)

  1. (idiomatic, transitive) To harp on; to remind continuously (especially of a misstep or defeat).
    • I get one parking ticket and he holds it over my head for six months.

Questions about holding over someone's head

What is holding over someone's head the present participle and gerund of?
Holding over someone's head is the present participle and gerund of hold over someone's head.

Words near holding over someone's head in the dictionary

  1. holding one's water
  2. holding oneself together
  3. holding onto
  4. holding out
  5. holding over
  6. holding over someone's head
  7. holding pattern
  8. holding patterns
  9. holding ransom
  10. holding short
  11. holding someone's feet to the fire

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: holding over someone's head (page history and authors); hold over someone's head (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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