Hole , n. (Games)(a) A small cavity used in some games, usually one into which a marble or ball is to be played or driven; hence, a score made by playing a marble or ball into such a hole, as in golf. (b) (Fives) At Eton College, England, that part of the floor of the court between the step and the pepperbox.

Hole (hōl), a. Whole. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Hole , n. [OE. hol, hole, AS. hol, hole, cavern, from hol, a., hollow; akin to D. hol, OHG. hol, G. hohl, Dan. huul hollow, hul hole, Sw. hål, Icel. hola; prob. from the root of AS. helan to conceal. See Hele, Hell, and cf. Hold of a ship.]

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 holes where eyes should be. Shak.

The blind walls Were full of chinks and holes. Tennyson.

The priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid. 2 Kings xii. 9.

2. An excavation in the ground, made by an animal to live in, or a natural cavity inhabited by an animal; hence, a low, narrow, or dark lodging or place; a mean habitation.Dryden.

The foxes have holes, . . . but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. Luke ix. 58.

Syn. -- Hollow; concavity; aperture; rent; fissure; crevice; orifice; interstice; perforation; excavation; pit; cave; den; cell.

Hole and corner, clandestine, underhand. [Colloq.] "The wretched trickery of hole and corner buffery." Dickens. -- Hole board (Fancy Weaving), a board having holes through which cords pass which lift certain warp threads; -- called also compass board.

Hole (?), v. t. [AS. holian. See Hole, n.]

1. To cut, dig, or bore a hole or holes in; as, to hole a post for the insertion of rails or bars. Chapman.

2. To drive into a hole, as an animal, or a billiard ball.

Hole , v. i. To go or get into a hole. B. Jonson.

-- Webster's unabridged 1913