hole ( h½l) n. 1. A cavity in a solid. 2. a. An opening or a perforation: a hole in the clouds. b. Sports An opening in a defensive formation, especially the area of a baseball infield between the third base player and the shortstop. c. A fault or flaw: There are holes in your argument. 3. A deep place in a body of water. 4. An animal's hollowed-out habitation, such as a burrow. 5. An ugly, squalid, or depressing dwelling. 6. A deep or isolated place of confinement; a dungeon. 7. An awkward situation; a predicament. 8. Sports a. The small pit lined with a cup into which a golf ball must be hit. b. One of the divisions of a golf course, from tee to cup. 9. Physics A vacant position in a crystal left by the absence of an electron, especially a position in a semiconductor that acts as a carrier of positive electric charge. In this sense, also called electron hole . v. holed hol·ing holes v. tr. 1. To put a hole in. 2. To put or propel into a hole. v. intr. 1. To make a hole in something.

Phrasal Verbs: hole out Sports 1. To hit a golf ball into the hole. hole up 1. To hibernate in or as if in a hole. 2. Informal To take refuge in or as if in a hideout.

Idioms: hole in one Sports 1. The driving of a golf ball from the tee into the hole in only one stroke. in the hole 1. Having a score below zero. 2. In debt. 3. At a disadvantage. [Middle English from Old English hol; See kel- 1 in Indo-European Roots.]

Synonyms: hole hollow cavity pocket These nouns refer to an unfilled or empty space. Hole is applicable to an opening in or a perforation through a solid body: dug a hole in the earth and planted the seed; a hole in the bow of the ship made by a torpedo. Hollow denotes an unfilled area in a solid body or a dent or depression on a surface: a hollow in the ground where ivy grows; marble steps with hollows worn by footsteps. A cavity is a hollow or hollow area within a solid body or object: a cavity in a molar; the cranial cavity. Pocket is applied to a cavity in the earth, as one containing a mineral deposit, or to an isolated cavity or area that contains foreign or contrasting matter: pockets of manganese in the rock; a plane that plunged into a pocket of turbulence; pockets of unemployment in an otherwise affluent society.

sack 1 ( s²k) n. Abbr. sk. 1. a. A large bag of strong, coarse material for holding objects in bulk. b. A similar container of paper or plastic. c. The amount that such a container can hold. 2. Also sacque A short, loose-fitting garment for women and children. 3. Slang Dismissal from employment: finally got the sack after a year of ineptitude. 4. Informal A bed, mattress, or sleeping bag. 5. Baseball A base. 6. Football A successful attempt at sacking the quarterback. v. tr. sacked sack·ing sacks 1. To place into a sack. 2. Slang To discharge from employment. See note at dismiss . 3. Football To tackle (a quarterback attempting to pass the ball) behind the line of scrimmage.

Phrasal Verbs: sack out Slang 1. To sleep. [Middle English from Old English sacc from Latin saccus from Greek sakkos of Semitic origin]

Notes: The word sack may seem an odd candidate for preserving a few thousand years of history, but this word for an ordinary thing probably goes back to Middle Eastern antiquity. Sack owes its long history to the fact that it and its ancestors denoted an object that was used in trade between peoples. Thus the Greeks got their word sakkos, " a bag made out of coarse cloth or hair, " from the Phoenicians with whom they traded. We do not know the Phoenician word, but we know words that are akin to it, such as Hebrew saq and Akkadian saqqu. The Greeks then passed the sack, as it were, to the Latin-speaking Romans, who transmitted their word saccus, " a large bag or sack, " to the Germanic tribes with whom they traded, who gave it the form ·sakkiz (other peoples as well have taken this word from Greek or Latin, including speakers of Welsh, Russian, Polish, and Albanian). The speakers of Old English, a Germanic language, used two forms of the word, s æc, from ·sakkiz, and sacc, directly from Latin; the second Old English form is the ancestor of our sack.

sack 2 ( s²k) v. tr. sacked sack·ing sacks 1. To rob of goods or valuables, especially after capture. n. 1. The looting or pillaging of a captured city or town. 2. Plunder; loot. [Probably from French (mettre à) sac (to put in) a sack from Old French sac sack from Latin saccus sack, bag; See sack 1 ]

sack 3 ( s²k) n. 1. Any of various light, dry, strong wines from Spain and the Canary Islands, imported to England in the 16th and 17th centuries. [From French (vin) sec dry (wine) from Old French from Latin siccus dry]

sick·o ( s¹k"½) n. pl. sick·os Slang 1. One who is mentally or emotionally deranged or perverted. [From sick 1 ]

sic 2 also sick ( s¹k) v. tr. sicced also sicked sic·cing sick·ing sics sicks 1. To set upon; attack. 2. To urge or incite to hostile action; set: sicced the dogs on the intruders. [Dialectal variant of seek ]

sock·o ( s¼k"½) adj. Slang 1. Impressive and effective; excellent. [From sock 2 ]

sock 1 ( s¼k) n. 1. pl. socks or sox ( s¼ks) A short stocking reaching a point between the ankle and the knee. 2. Meteorology A windsock. 3. a. A light shoe worn by comic actors in ancient Greek and Roman plays. b. Comic drama; comedy: " He . . . knew all niceties of the sock and buskin " Byron v. tr. socked sock·ing socks 1. To provide with socks.

Phrasal Verbs: sock away Informal 1. To put (money) away in a safe place for future use. sock in 1. To close to air traffic: fog that socked in the airport. [Middle English socke from Old English socc a kind of light shoe from Latin soccus possibly from Greek sunkhis, sukkhos Phyrgian shoe]

sock 2 ( s¼k) v. socked sock·ing socks v. tr. 1. To hit or strike forcefully; punch. v. intr. 1. To deliver a blow. n. 1. A hard blow or punch.

Idioms: sock it to (someone) Slang 1. To deliver a forceful comment, reprimand, or physical blow to someone else. [Origin unknown]

suck ( s¾k) v. sucked suck·ing sucks v. tr. 1. To draw (liquid) into the mouth by movements of the tongue and lips that create suction. 2. a. To draw in by establishing a partial vacuum: a cleaning device that sucks up dirt. b. To draw in by or as if by a current in a fluid. c. To draw or pull as if by suction: teenagers who are sucked into a life of crime. 3. To draw nourishment through or from: suck a baby bottle. 4. To hold, moisten, or maneuver (a sweet, for example) in the mouth. 5. Vulgar Slang To perform fellatio on. v. intr. 1. To draw something in by or as if by suction: felt the drain starting to suck. 2. To draw nourishment; suckle. 3. To make a sound caused by suction. 4. Slang To behave obsequiously; fawn. Often used with up. 5. Vulgar Slang To be disgustingly disagreeable or offensive. n. 1. The act or sound of sucking. 2. Suction. 3. Something drawn in by sucking.

Phrasal Verbs: suck in 1. To take advantage of; cheat; swindle. [Middle English suken from Old English s¿can;See seu …- 2 in Indo-European Roots.]