hold forth

present singular third person holds forth · participle present holding forth · participle past held forth · past held forth

1. transitiveTo extend or offer, propose.
2. intransitiveTo talk at great length.

   I bestrode the courtroom entranceway, holding forth on my merits to the assembled press.

   4 more examples

   Behind him an excitable Frenchman was holding forth in declamatory style to a group of astonished residents.

   1908, R. Forsythe, “Our Hippopotamus Hunt”, in The Wide World Magazine, volume XX, London: George Newnes, Ltd., page 400

   The girls all liked to hear him talk. They often gathered in a little circle while he sat on a bench, and held forth to them, laughing.

   1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 5, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC

   […]they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   Warmed to the woman somewhat, I admit it. She holds forth like a man and smokes myrrhy cigarettes through a rhino-horn holder.

   2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Sceptre (Hodder and Stoughton), →ISBN, page 55

   Synonyms: expatiate, harangue