Word.ws English Dictionary

holding the ring

holding the ring is the present participle and gerund of hold the ring.

Meaning of hold the ring

Verb

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

  1. (obsolete) To maintain order among spectators encircling participants in a prizefight or a performance and keep them from coming too near the participants.
    Synonyms:
    keep the ring
  2. To be a spectator at a fight; (figuratively) to watch other people argue.
  3. (UK, idiomatic) To oversee a situation while attempting to remain uninvolved in it.
    • Police held the ring during the protests.
  4. Of a prizefighter: to hold one's own during a fight; to continue winning a series of fights.

Questions about holding the ring

What is holding the ring the present participle and gerund of?
Holding the ring is the present participle and gerund of hold the ring.

Words near holding the ring in the dictionary

  1. holding the floor
  2. holding the line
  3. holding the phone
  4. holding the purse strings
  5. holding the reins
  6. holding the ring
  7. holding the road
  8. holding the stage
  9. holding tight
  10. holding time
  11. holding times

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: holding the ring (page history and authors); hold the ring (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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Cite this entry: “holding the ring.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/holding_the_ring. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.