offhold

present singular third person offholds · participle present offholding · past offheld · participle past offheld · participle past offholden · alternative off-hold

1. archaictransitiveTo retain.
2. intransitiveTo hold off; prevent; refrain; avoid; shun.

   A scleral rim should be maintained in contact lenses to off-hold and balance the corneal portion from the cornea, preventing exertion of any pressure.

   1950, Washington Institute of Medicine, General practice clinics

   2 more examples

   No, Love, you must be shunned by every means, offheld and offstood afar, for the man that has fallen headlong into love comes o greater grief than if he cast himself off a cliff.

   1968, Titus Maccius Plautus, Paul Nixon, Plautus

   The mighty foundation of massive natural stone, in the Mediterranean realm, in India as well as in Middle- and South America, almost always represents the world of the toiling earthlings who have to off-hold the demons of depth as well as to support their god-miming oppressors.

   2009, A.J.J. Mekking, Eric Roose, The global built environment as a representation of realities