hold good

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

1. intransitiveTo continue being true or valid; to hold true.

   The law holds not good for them.

   1 more example

   That explanation does not hold good in this matter.

   Synonyms: hold

2. intransitiveTo remain effective, fast, or secure.

   1 more example

   She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good! / She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood! / They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years, / Till, now, on the stroke of midnight, / Cold, on the stroke of midnight, / The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

   1906 August, Alfred Noyes, “The Highwayman”, in Poems, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 2, stanza IV, pages 50–51