hold the floor

hold the floor

To address an audience as the sole speaker or presenting group, especially at length and in an official capacity. The senator held the floor in support of the bill for nearly eight hours yesterday. Tom is holding the floor right now. You'll have your turn to respond after he's finished.
See also: floor, hold
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

ˌhold the ˈfloor

speak at a public meeting, etc. for a long time, often stopping others from speaking: The American delegation held the floor for three quarters of an hour, putting forward their proposals.
See also: floor, hold
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • at great length
  • explain
  • be knocking on the door
  • hold at
  • length
  • bag of wind
  • you had one job
  • comfortable in (one's) own skin
  • take home the bacon
  • two-faced
References in periodicals archive
"After hearing all this, the Supreme Court has passed its order that the court is optimistic and the Speaker will hold the floor test later in the day today and then kept the matter for tomorrow.
Tasks that had once been accomplished by putting brief remarks on the record became an opportunity to hold the floor in an otherwise empty room, ranting for the cameras -- and generating footage for campaign ads.
As a young, female engineer in optics, in some groups I have found it difficult to hold the floor at meetings, or to get my teammates headed in the same direction.
First, the Senate should get rid of the two-track system that allows it to bypass a filibustered bill and reinstitute the pre-1970 requirement that filibusterers hold the floor. The fact that the number of filibusters exploded after the two-track system was introduced speaks for itself.
"Democrats will hold the floor for the next 24 hours, until the final vote, to do everything we can to persuade just one more Republican to join us," Washington Sen.
Outside Congress, several hundred gun-control advocates gathered to voice support for the Democrats, shouting "hold the floor" and "do your job".
A legislative filibuster would end when objecting senators could no longer hold the floor, at which point the majority could proceed with the business under consideration.
I can remember when it would hardly have been conceiveable that Derek would hold the floor there again.?
The bolts that hold the floor platform in place are inserted at each corner, with one bolt going through each side and then through the stake.
Under current Senate Rules any member who is recognized to speak may hold the floor for as long as he or she wishes.
The difference between a filibuster and a chub lies in the amount of time a member can hold the floor. Senators can talk as long as they like, so long as their comments relate to the bill at hand.
This option is highly democratic: either person can hold the floor. Holding the floor allows each person to control the document sharing and allows each to speak without waiting to be granted the floor.
As I took a turn around the perimeter of the basketball court to head into the home stretch, my cheap sneakers couldn't hold the floor and I went crashing into the cinder-block wall, right knee first.
CA practitioners then tried to identify the underlying principles that direct conversation participants when and how to hold the floor, claim the floor and hand over the floor.