different between hole vs sink

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /h??l/, [h???], [h???]
• Rhymes: -??l
• (US) IPA^(key): /ho?l/, [ho??]
• Rhymes: -o?l
• Homophone: whole (depends on accent)

Etymology 1

From Middle English hole, hol, from Old English hol (“orifice, hollow place, cavity”), from Proto-West Germanic *hol, from Proto-Germanic *hul? (“hollow space, cavity”) noun derivative of Proto-Germanic *hulaz (“hollow”).

Noun

hole (plural holes)

1. A hollow place or cavity; an excavation; a pit; an opening in or through a solid body, a fabric, etc.; a perforation; a rent; a fissure.

   • The priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid.

   • 1840, Alfred Tennyson, Godiva:

     […] her palfrey’s footfall shot
     Light horrors thro’ her pulses: the blind walls
     Were full of chinks and holes; and overhead
     Fantastic gables, crowding, stared: […]
   1. An opening in a solid.

2. (heading) In games.
   1. (golf) A subsurface standard-size hole, also called cup, hitting the ball into which is the object of play. Each hole, of which there are usually eighteen as the standard on a full course, is located on a prepared surface, called the green, of a particular type grass.
   2. (golf) The part of a game in which a player attempts to hit the ball into one of the holes.

   3. (baseball) The rear portion of the defensive team between the shortstop and the third baseman.

   4. (chess) A square on the board, with some positional significance, that a player does not, and cannot in future, control with a friendly pawn.
   5. (stud poker) A card (also called a hole card) dealt face down thus unknown to all but its holder; the status in which such a card is.
   6. In the game of fives, part of the floor of the court between the step and the pepperbox.
3. (archaeology, slang) An excavation pit or trench.
4. (figuratively) A weakness; a flaw or ambiguity.
   • 2011, Fun - We Are Young

     But between the drinks and subtle things / The holes in my apologies, you know / I’m trying hard to take it back

5. (informal) A container or receptacle.

6. (physics) In semiconductors, a lack of an electron in an occupied band behaving like a positively charged particle.
7. (computing) A security vulnerability in software which can be taken advantage of by an exploit.
8. (slang, anatomy) An orifice, in particular the anus. When used with shut it always refers to the mouth.

9. (Ireland, Scotland, particularly in the phrase "get one's hole") Sex, or a sex partner.

   Are you going out to get your hole tonight?

10. (informal, with "the") Solitary confinement, a high-security prison cell often used as punishment.

    Synonym: box

    • 2011, Ahmariah Jackson, IAtomic Seven, Locked Up but Not Locked Down

      Disciplinary actions can range from a mere write up to serious time in the hole.

11. (slang) An undesirable place to live or visit; a hovel.

12. (figuratively) Difficulty, in particular, debt.

13. (graph theory) A chordless cycle in a graph.
14. (slang, rail transport) A passing loop; a siding provided for trains traveling in opposite directions on a single-track line to pass each other.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:hole
• (solitary confinement): administrative segregation, ad-seg, block (UK), box, cooler (UK), hotbox, lockdown, pound, SCU, security housing unit, SHU, special handling unit

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ??? (h?ru)
• Sranan Tongo: olo

Translations

Verb

hole (third-person singular simple present holes, present participle holing, simple past and past participle holed)

1. (transitive) To make holes in (an object or surface).

2. (transitive, by extension) To destroy.

3. (intransitive) To go into a hole.
4. (transitive) To drive into a hole, as an animal, or a billiard ball or golf ball.
   • 1799, Sporting Magazine (volume 13, page 49)

     If the player holes the red ball, he scores three, and upon holing his adversary's ball, he gains two; and thus it frequently happens, that seven are got upon a single stroke, by caramboling and holing both balls.

5. (transitive) To cut, dig, or bore a hole or holes in.

   to hole a post for the insertion of rails or bars

Derived terms

• holeable
• holer
• hole out
• hole up

Translations

Etymology 2

Adjective

hole (comparative holer or more hole, superlative holest or most hole)

1. Obsolete form of whole.
   • 1843, Sir George Webbe Dasent (translator), A grammar of the Icelandic or Old Norse tongue (originally by Rasmus Christian Rask)

     Such was the arrangement of the alphabet over the hole North.

Anagrams

• Hoel, OHLE, helo, ohel, oleh

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [??ol?]

Noun

hole

1. inflection of h?l:
   1. genitive singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative plural

Verb

hole

1. masculine singular present transgressive of holit

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ho?l?/

Verb

hole

1. inflection of holen:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. first/third-person singular subjunctive I
   3. singular imperative

Hausa

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?hó?.lè?/

Verb

h?l? (grade 4)

1. to relax, to enjoy oneself

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English h?l

Adjective

hole

1. healthy
2. safe
3. whole, complete, full

Alternative forms

• hol, ol, ole, hoal, hoale, hoel, hoil, hoille, holle, wholle
• hal, hale, halle (Northern)

References

• “h?l(e, adj.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Adverb

hole

1. wholly

Alternative forms

• hol

References

• “h?l(e, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Noun

hole (plural holes)

1. whole, entirety
2. health
3. remedy, cure

Alternative forms

• hol

References

• “h?l(e, n.(3).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Descendants

• English: whole
• Scots: hole, holl

Etymology 2

From Old English hol

Noun

hole (plural holes or holen)

1. hole

Alternative forms

• hol, ol, ole, holle, hoil, houl, hul

Descendants

• English: hole
• Scots: hole

References

• “h??l(e, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 3

From Old English hulu; see hull for more.

Noun

hole (plural holes)

1. hull (outer covering of a fruit or seed)
2. hut, shelter
3. hull (of a ship)

Alternative forms

• hol, holle, hul, hule, ule, hulle, ulle, hoile, huole

Descendants

• English: hull
• Scots: huil

References

• “hol(e, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 4

Verb

hole

1. past participle of helen (“to cover”)

   Synonym: heled

Alternative forms

• holn

Etymology 5

Adjective

hole

1. Alternative form of hol (“hollow”)

Etymology 6

Noun

hole (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of oile (“oil”)

Etymology 7

Noun

hole (plural holen)

1. Alternative form of oule (“owl”)

Etymology 8

Adjective

hole

1. Alternative form of holy (“holy”)

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse hola

Noun

hole f or m (definite singular hola or holen, indefinite plural holer, definite plural holene)

1. alternative form of hule

References

• “hole” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• hòle

Etymology

From Old Norse hola

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²ho?l?/

Noun

hole f (definite singular hola, indefinite plural holer, definite plural holene)

1. a cave
2. a cavity (anatomy)
3. a den

Derived terms

• augehole

References

• “hole” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

From Middle High German holen, from Old High German holon, from Proto-Germanic *hul?n? (“to fetch”). Compare German holen, Dutch halen. Related to English haul.

Verb

hole

1. to fetch

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [??ole]

Noun

hole f

1. genitive singular of ho?a

Sotho

Noun

hole 17 (uncountable)

1. far away

English

Etymology

From Old English sincan, from Proto-Germanic *sinkwan?, from Proto-Indo-European *seng?- (“to fall, sink”). Compare West Frisian sinke, Low German sinken, Dutch zinken, German sinken, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål synke, Swedish sjunka. In the causative sense, it replaced Old English sen?an (“make sink”) from Proto-Germanic *sankwijan?.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /s??k/
• Rhymes: -??k
• Homophones: sync, synch, cinque

Verb

sink (third-person singular simple present sinks, present participle sinking, simple past sank or sunk, past participle sunk or sunken)

2. (heading, physical) To move or be moved into something.
   1. (ergative) To descend or submerge (or to cause to do so) into a liquid or similar substance.

   2. (transitive) To cause a vessel to sink, generally by making it no longer watertight.

   3. (transitive) To push (something) into something.

   4. (transitive) To make by digging or delving.

      to sink a well in the ground

   5. (transitive, snooker, pool, billiards, golf) To pot; hit a ball into a pocket or hole.
      • 2008, Edward Keating, The Joy of Ex: A Novel

        My sister beats me at pool in public a second time. I claim some dignity back by potting two of my balls before Tammy sinks the black.

3. (heading, social) To diminish or be diminished.
   1. (intransitive, figuratively, of the human heart) To experience apprehension, disappointment, dread, or momentary depression.
      • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Ch.21:

        I tried, but I could not wake him. This caused me a great fear, and I looked around terrified. Then indeed, my heart sank within me. Beside the bed, as if he had stepped out of the mist, or rather as if the mist had turned into his figure, for it had entirely disappeared, stood a tall, thin man, all in black.

      • 1915, Thornton W. Burgess, The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel, Little, Brown, and Company, Boston; ch. XIX:

        Peter's heart sank. "Don't you think it is dreadful?" he asked.

   2. (transitive, figuratively) To cause to decline; to depress or degrade.
      • c. 1613, William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, Henry VIII, Act II, scene i:

        And if I have a conscience, let it sink me

      • 1700, Nicholas Rowe The Ambitious Stepmother, Act II, scene ii:

        Thy cruel and unnatural lust of power / Has sunk thy father more than all his years.

   3. (intransitive) To demean or lower oneself; to do something below one's status, standards, or morals.
      • 2013, Steve Henschel, Niagara This Week, April 24:

        Who would sink so low as to steal change from veterans?

4. (transitive, slang, archaic) To conceal and appropriate.
5. (transitive, slang, archaic) To keep out of sight; to suppress; to ignore.
   • 1849 December 15, Frederick William Robertson, Sermon 14, “The Principle of Spiritual Harvest”:

     I say not always dishonorable qualifications, but a certain flexibility of disposition; a certain courtly willingness to sink obnoxious truths, and adapt ourselves to the prejudices of the minds of others […]

6. (transitive, slang) To pay absolutely.

7. (transitive, slang, archaic) To reduce or extinguish by payment.

8. (intransitive) To be overwhelmed or depressed; to fail in strength.

   • I think our country sinks beneath the yoke.
9. (intransitive) To decrease in volume, as a river; to subside; to become diminished in volume or in apparent height.

Usage notes

• Use of sunk for the simple past instead of sank is not uncommon, but may be considered non-standard.

Synonyms

• (descend into a liquid, etc): descend, go down
• (submerge): dip, dunk, submerge
• (cause (ship, etc) to sink):
• (push (something) into):

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

sink (plural sinks)

2. A basin used for holding water for washing.
3. A drain for carrying off wastewater.
4. (geology) A sinkhole.
5. A depression in land where water collects, with no visible outlet.
6. A heat sink.
7. A place that absorbs resources or energy.
8. (ecology) A habitat that cannot support a population on its own but receives the excess of individuals from some other source.
9. (baseball) The motion of a sinker pitch.

   Jones has a two-seamer with heavy sink.

10. (computing, programming) An object or callback that captures events; event sink
11. (graph theory) a destination vertex in a transportation network
12. An abode of degraded persons; a wretched place.
13. A depression in a stereotype plate.
14. (theater) A stage trap-door for shifting scenery.
15. (mining) An excavation less than a shaft.
16. (game development) One or several systems that remove currency from the game's economy, thus controlling or preventing inflation

    Antonym: faucet

Synonyms

• (basin): basin, washbasin; see also washbasin for washing fixtures without water supply

Antonyms

• (destination vertex): source

Derived terms

• (washbasin): vessel sink

Translations

Related terms

• countersink
• everything but the kitchen sink

References

• Honey, I sunk the boat, The Grammarphobia Blog

Anagrams

• -kins, inks, k'ins, kins, skin

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s??k/

Etymology 1

From Dutch zinken, from Middle Dutch sinken, from Old Dutch *sincan, from Proto-Germanic *sinkwan?, from Proto-Indo-European *seng?- (“to fall, sink”).

Verb

sink (present sink, present participle sinkende, past participle gesink)

1. (intransitive) to sink

Etymology 2

From Dutch zink, from German Zink.

Noun

sink (uncountable)

1. zinc

Estonian

Noun

sink (genitive singi, partitive sinki)

1. ham

Declension

Faroese

Etymology

From German Zink.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s???k/
• Rhymes: -???k

Noun

sink n (genitive singular sinks, uncountable)

1. (metal) zinc

Declension

Derived terms

• sinksalva

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -???k

Noun

sink n (genitive singular sinks, no plural)

1. zinc (chemical element)

Declension

Anagrams

• skin

Mauritian Creole

Numeral

sink

1. Alternative spelling of senk

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

sink m or n (definite singular sinken or sinket) (uncountable)

1. zinc (chemical element, symbol Zn)

Derived terms

• forsinke
• sinksulfat

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From German Zink.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s??k/

Noun

sink m or n (definite singular sinken or sinket) (uncountable)

1. zinc (chemical element, symbol Zn)

Derived terms

• sinksulfat

References

• “sink” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

West Frisian

Verb

sink

1. first-person singular present of sinke
2. imperative of sinke