as in lurking
to remain out of sight
we'll hole up in the cellar and wait out the hurricane
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Recent Examples of holing up
But after holing up Sunday in his apartment 90 steps from the beach in the historic Zona Romantica, Eure was ready to venture outside.
—
Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 23 Feb. 2026
Amir and Miri share their memories of holing up in a lightless, airless concrete room with two children under the age of 5, trying desperately to remain quiet.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 11 Sep. 2025
Now teens were holing up in garages across America in an attempt to create their own versions of the Fab Four.
—Jordan Runtagh, PEOPLE, 10 Sep. 2025
And at the very least, Damour said, kids won’t get a chance to develop the habit of holing up in their bedroom with their phone and never coming out.
—Rheana Murray, The Atlantic, 11 Aug. 2025
Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 23 Feb. 2026
Amir and Miri share their memories of holing up in a lightless, airless concrete room with two children under the age of 5, trying desperately to remain quiet.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 11 Sep. 2025
Now teens were holing up in garages across America in an attempt to create their own versions of the Fab Four.
—Jordan Runtagh, PEOPLE, 10 Sep. 2025
And at the very least, Damour said, kids won’t get a chance to develop the habit of holing up in their bedroom with their phone and never coming out.
—Rheana Murray, The Atlantic, 11 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for holing up
Verb
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But her lover, the increasingly controlling and unhinged army corporal Don José, is gradually dimished to lurking in the shadows and hiding in crowds.—
Pam Kragen,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
28 Mar. 2026
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Who’s lurking in back of the building?—
Miami Herald Archives,
Miami Herald,
27 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Under her tenure, the Department has lost centuries of professional experience, willfully violated federal law and judicial orders alike, while at the same time, hiding millions of documents linked to the Epstein files in a massive cover-up.—
Dan Mangan,
CNBC,
2 Apr. 2026
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Grass lines in 8 to 15 feet of water make a perfect location for ambushing their prey and hiding from other predatory fish like muskies.—
Derek Horner,
Outdoor Life,
2 Apr. 2026
Verb
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With its mix of Norse mythology, eighteenth-century cryptozoology, nineteenth-century science fiction, and the biblical apocalypse, the poem tells of something tragic and mysterious lying just beyond the bounds of human knowing.—
Kathryn Hughes,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Apr. 2026
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Speaking of the fancy hybrid varieties, each flower appears to be a flower within a flower, since each typically consists of two contrasting floral stars, lying flat upon one another.—
Joshua Siskin,
Oc Register,
3 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Holing up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/holing%20up. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
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