Home British & World English lay hold of (or on)

Definition of lay hold of (or on) in English:

lay hold of (or on)

phrase

  • Catch or gain possession of.

    ‘he was afraid she might vanish if he did not lay hold of her’
    • ‘This is what the author is clearly reaching out for in this section, but does not fully lay hold of.’
    • ‘‘In all the districts I visited every opportunity of collecting the folk-lore was laid hold of, and a good deal of it […] was gathered ’.’
    • ‘The real revolution in philosophy would be to regard the contingencies of history as the means by which we lay hold of reality.’
    • ‘The war is fundamentally an attempt by the US to lay hold of these natural resources by force of arms.’
    • ‘But lay hold on this inescapable fact - one day, all death will be abolished.’
    • ‘Boyle argued that only by laying hold of atomist ideas could the occult and teleological influence of the alchemists be removed from the subject.’
    • ‘One thing is especially proved by the Paris Commune, that the working class cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made state machinery and wield it for its own purposes.’
    • ‘Then you will notice that the original founders of religion, admirably laying hold of pure simplicity, were the bitterest foes of literary learning.’
    • ‘Ever since the emergence of the early state, various handfuls of people have been laying hold of inordinate amounts of wealth and power.’
    • ‘The monster laid hold of him, but Beowulf kept in mind his strength, the precious gift’