hold one's liquor

verb

To be resistant to intoxication or to show few signs of intoxication, even after consuming a significant amount of alcohol.

Similar
hold one's alcoholhold one's drink
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Meanings

verbhold one's liquor (third-person singular simple present holds one's liquor, present participle holding one's liquor, simple past and past participle held one's liquor)

present singular third person holds one's liquor · participle present holding one's liquor · participle past held one's liquor · past held one's liquor

  1. idiomaticTo be resistant to intoxication or to show few signs of intoxication, even after consuming a significant amount of alcohol.

    Sandy Marsh didn't hold her liquor particularly well; she could get tipsy on two glasses of red wine.

    1987 September 14, Patricia Morrisroe, “The Life and Death of Sandy Marsh”, in New York Magazine, volume 20, number 36, page 49
    2 more examples

    Just because a person is descended from hard-drinking ancestors is no sign that he can "hold his liquor" better than others.

    1927, “Alcoholic Rats and Heredity”, in Popular Science, volume 110, number 6, page 39

    When I first came to London and fell in with Sebastian and Evangeline, neither could hold their liquor, nor judge which glass should be their last.

    2002, Emma Holly, Beyond Seduction, →ISBN, page 87

    Synonyms: hold one's alcohol, hold one's drink

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo be resistant to intoxication or to show few signs of intoxication, even after consuming a significant amount of alcohol.

Similar
hold one's alcoholhold one's drink
Also see
hold one's alcoholhold one's drinkhold one's piss

Translations

Finnish kestää viinaa
  • kestää viinaato have a considerable tolerance to alcohol
French tenir l'alcool, avoir une bonne descente
  • tenir l'alcoolto have a considerable tolerance to alcohol
  • avoir une bonne descenteto have a considerable tolerance to alcohol
German viel Alkohol vertragen
  • viel Alkohol vertragento have a considerable tolerance to alcohol
Polish mieć mocną głowę
  • mieć mocną głowęto have a considerable tolerance to alcohol
Russian уме́ть пить
  • уме́ть пить (umétʹ pitʹ)to have a considerable tolerance to alcohol
Spanish aguantar, aguantar la bebida
  • aguantarto have a considerable tolerance to alcohol
  • aguantar la bebidato have a considerable tolerance to alcohol
  • tener cultura alcohólicato have a considerable tolerance to alcohol
Cite this entry
APA

hold one's liquor. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hold%20one's%20liquor

MLA

“hold one's liquor.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hold%20one's%20liquor. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hold one's liquor,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hold%20one's%20liquor.

Source: hold one's liquor on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.