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hold the phone

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Hold the phone.

 

1. and Hold the wire(, please).; Hold, please.; Hold the line(, please).; Hold the phone(, please).; Please hold. Fig. Please wait on the telephone and do not hang up. (A phrase in use before telephone "hold" circuitry was in wide use.) Bill: Hold the wire, please. (Turning to Tom) Tom, the phone's for you. Tom: Be right there. Rachel: Do you wish to speak to Mr. Jones or Mr. Franklin? Henry: Jones. Rachel: Thank you. Hold the line, please. Sue: Good afternoon, Acme Motors, hold please. Bill (hanging up): That makes me so mad!

2. Fig. Wait just a minute.; Don't rush into something. Hold the phone! Let's think about it a little longer. Hold the phone. I just had another idea.

See also: hold, phone

hold the phone

Stop what one is doing, as in Hold the phone! There's no sense in continuing this argument. This expression is often put as an imperative, as in the example. [Colloquial; second half of 1900s] Also see hold everything.

See also: hold, phone

hold the phone

Slang

To stop doing what one is engaged in doing. Often used in the imperative: Hold the phone! Let's end this argument.

See also: hold, phone