hold one's own
English
[edit]Pronunciation
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Verb
[edit]hold one's own (third-person singular simple present holds one's own, present participle holding one's own, simple past and past participle held one's own)
- (idiomatic) To demonstrate oneself to be capable; to provide a respectable performance or worthy competition; to stick up for oneself.
- 1877, R. D. Blackmore, chapter 6, in Erema:
- At any rate, he was like John Bull in one respect: he was sturdy and square, and fit to hold his own with any man.
- 1904 January 29 – October 7, Joseph Conrad, chapter 2, in Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard, London, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], published 1904, →OCLC:
- At the receptions […] Antonia could hold her own in a discussion with two or three men at a time.
- 1909, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 19, in The Gem Collector:
- If it came to blows, the younger man could not hope to hold his own with the huge policeman.
- 1941 May, “Notes and News: William Stroudley”, in Railway Magazine, page 234:
- In his view, this eminent locomotive engineer had very decided opinions of his own, and was not afraid of putting them into practice; but a weakness lay in the fact that there was no one on his staff in a position sufficiently strong to hold his own with Stroudley in argument.
- 1986, Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr., Top Gun (motion picture):
- Charlie: Are you a good pilot?
Maverick: I can hold my own.
- 2007 April 4, David Runk, “Competition Heats Up In Truck Market”, in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, retrieved 4 November 2010, page E8:
- But Ford, and Chrysler continued to hold their own against the latest competition from the Japanese.
Synonyms
[edit]Translations
[edit]demonstrate oneself to be capable
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