HOLDFAST • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Holdfast

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/hˈoʊlfˌæst/ Listen

noun

Holdfast n.

Something used to secure and hold in place something else, as a long flat-headed nail, a catch a hook, a clinch, a clamp, etc.; hence, a support. "His holdfast was gone."

(Bot.) A conical or branching body, by which a seaweed is attached to its support, and differing from a root in that it is not specially absorbent of moisture.

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Etymology of 'Holdfast'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Holdfast" Quotes from Famous Books

... he is only watching for some messenger, with some answer or another. I know he is about a negotiation, which I'd never consent to, but fight a thousand troopers, had it not been that as good as eight or ten took his permission, and walked off for the other holdfast—fellows, to be sure, that never cruised with him above once. Let us a-board, and we're safe. Would that the night were darker! for I think, by the movement of the watchers, (to the Devil with them!) that they suspect—ah! now you've finished, pray ...

— The Buccaneer - A Tale • Mrs. S. C. Hall

... sailing came. The Sabrina, taken in tow by a steam-tug, soon made her way to Holdfast Bay, where she was to lie at anchor till Saturday morning. Hubert and his uncle accompanied Frank Oldfield thus far, and then returned in the steam-tug. Before they parted, Hubert had a long conversation ...

— Frank Oldfield - Lost and Found • T.P. Wilson