uphold

From Middle English upholden, equivalent to up- +‎ hold. Compare Dutch ophouden (“to stop, cease, hold up”), German aufhalten (“to stop, halt, detain”). Compare also Middle Low German upholt, Old Norse upphald (“uphold, support”).

• IPA^(key): /ˌʌpˈhəʊld/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• Rhymes: -əʊld

uphold (third-person singular simple present upholds, present participle upholding, simple past upheld, past participle upheld or (archaic) upholden)

1. To hold up; to lift on high; to elevate.
   • 1899, John Dryden, Geoffrey Chaucer, Percival Chubb, Dryden's Palamon and Arcite‎, page 5:

     The mournful train/ Echoed her grief, [...]/ With groans, and hands upheld, to move his mind, /Besought his pity to their helpless kind

2. To keep erect; to support; to sustain; to keep from falling
   • 1769, The King James Bible, Proverbs 29:23:

     A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.

   • 1623, William Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King John, Act V, Scene iv:

     That misbegotten devil, Falconbridge, /In spite of spite, alone upholds the day.

   • 1872, James De Mille, The Cryptogram‎, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2009:

     Uttering such broken ejaculations Mrs. Hart burst into a passion of tears, and only Lord Chetwynde's strong arms prevented her from falling. / He upheld her.

   • Wednesday June 02, 2021, Has the Northern Ireland Protocol undermined the United Kingdom?

     Similarly, both the Government and the EU argued at the time the deal was agreed that they were upholding the Good Friday Agreement by implementing the Protocol.

3. To support by approval or encouragement, to confirm (something which has been questioned)
   • 1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral., London: Oxford University Press, published 1973, § 18:

     but there was still a connexion upheld among the different ideas, which succeeded each other.

• upholdatory (rare, obsolete, nonce word)

• “uphold”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Notes:

• hold up, hold-up, holdup