hold one's fire

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Phrase

hold one's fire

1. Do not discharge a weapon. Used originally for weapons needing a spark or lighting of a fuse to ignite gunpowder; now sometimes used to mean any weapon launching a projectile.
2. (colloquial, idiomatic) Wait, don't retaliate, calm down, be quiet.

   Hold your fire and let me explain.

Verb

hold one's fire (third-person singular simple present holds one's fire, present participle holding one's fire, simple past and past participle held one's fire)

1. (intransitive) To refrain from criticism.

Antonyms

• return fire