From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhold on phrasal verb1 spoken a) WAITto wait for a short time Hold on, I’ll just get my coat. b) SURPRISEDused when you have just noticed, heard, or remembered something interesting or wrong Hold on a minute! Isn’t that your brother’s car over there? c) WAITused to ask someone on the telephone to wait until the person they want to talk to is available Can you hold on? I’ll try to find her.2 to have your hands or arms tightly around something Hold on tight! to Hold on to my arm.3 CONTINUE/NOT STOPto continue doing something that is very difficult to do San Francisco held on to win 4–2. → hold→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
hold on• Hold on - I haven't finished yet.hold to• She can walk now without holding on to anything.• This might enable them to hold on to around 100 of their present 270 seats.• Whitman won because she held on to conservatives.• To Marquand, MacDonald's real fault was that he held on to his nineteenth-century principles for too long.• He wasn't sure that he would be given a chance to hold on to his wife.• Still holding on to it, he nodded and went out to where the Audi was parked.• Once I picked it up, I just wanted to make sure I held on to it.• He could hold on to office even though so severely disabled as to be unable to lead.• These beautiful new books, filled with morals and happy endings, help us hold on to our storytelling heritage. 