hole

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
hole/həʊl/

▶noun

• 1 an empty space in a solid body or surface.

  ■ an aperture.

  ■ a cavity on a golf course into which the ball must be hit.

• 2 informal a small or unpleasant place.

  ■ an awkward situation.

• 3 a flaw in a plan or argument.

• 4 Physics a position from which an electron is absent, regarded as a mobile carrier of positive charge in a semiconductor.

▶verb

• 1 make a hole or holes in.

• 2 Golf hit (the ball) into a hole.

• 3 (hole out) Cricket (of a batsman) hit the ball to a fielder and be caught.

• 4 (hole up) informal hide oneself.

– phrases
blow a hole in ruin the effectiveness of.
in the hole N. Amer. informal in debt.
in holes worn and holey.
make a hole in use a large amount of.

– derivatives
holey adjective.

– origin OE hol (n.), holian (v.), of Gmc origin.