hold one's own

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

1. idiomaticTo demonstrate oneself to be capable; to provide a respectable performance or worthy competition; to stick up for oneself.

   Charlie: Are you a good pilot? Maverick: I can hold my own.

   1986, Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr., Top Gun (motion picture)

   5 more examples

   At any rate, he was like John Bull in one respect: he was sturdy and square, and fit to hold his own with any man.

   1877, R. D. Blackmore, chapter 6, in Erema

   At the receptions […] Antonia could hold her own in a discussion with two or three men at a time.

   1904 January 29 – October 7, Joseph Conrad, chapter 2, in Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard, London; New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], published 1904, →OCLC

   If it came to blows, the younger man could not hope to hold his own with the huge policeman.

   1909, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 19, in The Gem Collector

   In his view, this eminent locomotive engineer had very decided opinions of his own, and was not afraid of putting them into practice; but a weakness lay in the fact that there was no one on his staff in a position sufficiently strong to hold his own with Stroudley in argument.

   1941 May, “Notes and News: William Stroudley”, in Railway Magazine, page 234

   But Ford, and Chrysler continued to hold their own against the latest competition from the Japanese.

   2007 April 4, David Runk, “Competition Heats Up In Truck Market”, in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, retrieved 04 Nov 2010, page E8

   Synonyms: stand tall