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Hole

.

Pick a hole in his coat. To find out some cause of blame. The allusion is to the Roman custom of dressing criminals in rags (Livy, ii. 61): Hence, a holey coat is a synonym for guilt.

Hear, Land cakes and brither Scots

Frae Maidenkirk to Johnny Groat’s

If there’s a hole in a your coats

I rede you tent it;

A chield’s amang you taking notes,

And, faith, heʹll prent it.”


Burns: On the late Capt. Grose, stanza 1.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Hold Off!
Hold On
Hold Out
Hold Water (To)
Hold One Guilty (To)
Hold One in Hand (To)
Hold One’s Own (To)
Hold the Fort
Holdfast
Holdfast
Hole
Hole and Corner (business)
Holiday Speeches
Holipher nes
Holland
Hollow
Holly
Hollyhock
Holman (Lieutenant James)
Holophernes
Holy Alliance