Etymology

withhold

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Today it means: To keep (a physical object that one has obtained) to oneself rather than giving it back to its owner. Full definition →

Middle English withholden
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The story

  1. Middle English · inherited fromwithholden
  2. English todaywithhold

From Middle English withholden. Equivalent to with- + hold.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.