hold with

verb — 2 senses

hold with

verb
1

To approve of, to condone.

Always in the negative

  • I don't hold with that sort of thing!
  • "Did you have any lunch?" "I don't hold with regular meals." "Did you have a book?" "I don't hold with books in the open. None of the older men read." "Did you commune with yourself, or don't you hold with that?"1907, E. M. Forster, The Longest Journey:
2 more examples
  • "[…] I like Henrietta, but I don’t hold with murder […]”1937, Peter Cheyney, Dames Don't Care, Pan Books, 1960 edition, page 100:
  • While I washed up I told Bert about my parents getting a divorce. He said he didn’t hold with divorce. He said he was married for thirty-five miserable years so why should anybody else get away with it?1982 October 7, Sue Townsend, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾, →ISBN, page 58:
2

US To agree with someone (to be in harmony about an opinion or perspective).

  • I hold with Aristotle on ethics.
  • It is clear that Rabh holds with the first teacher and Samuel holds with R. Simeon b. Gamaliel, but whom does R. Assi's opinion agree with?1903, Michael L. Rodkinson, chapter IV, in Tractate Shabbat, a modern English translation from the 5th century Mishanic Hebrew:
1 more example
  • [Psychologist Bill Richards came to believe] that consciousness is a property of the universe, not brains. On this question, he holds with Henri Bergson, the French philosopher, who conceived of the human mind as a kind of radio receiver2018, Michael Pollan, How to Change Your Mind:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.