lay hold of

lay hold of (someone or something)

1. To grasp or grip someone or something. Lay hold of that end of the sheet and pull it straight. I tried to lay hold of her before she fell off the step, but it happened too fast.
2. To come to possess, control, or gain custody of someone or something. See if you can lay hold of a plane we can use to transport these goods across the border. If they police ever lay hold of him, he'll spend the rest of his life behind bars.
3. To manage to understand or conceive of something. It's a tricky concept to lay hold of, I know. I must have read this passage three times, but I simply cannot lay hold of its meaning.
See also: hold, lay, of
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

lay hold of someone or something

to grasp someone or something with the hands. Just wait till I lay hold of Bill! I can't wait to lay hold of that fishing pole. I'm ready to catch a huge fish.
See also: hold, lay, of
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

lay hold of

Grasp, seize on, as in He clutched at branches, shrubs, anything he could lay hold of to break his fall. [First half of 1500s] Also see get hold of.
See also: hold, lay, of
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • lay hold of (someone or something)
  • hold with
  • hold with (something)
  • a hold on a strong
  • hold off doing
  • hold off from (doing something)
  • accountable
  • hold (someone) accountable (for someone)
  • hold accountable
  • get hold of
References in periodicals archive
We believe, teach and confess that faith alone is the means and instrument through which we lay hold of Christ ...
Sola fide: the mystery of salvation by faith
"The Israeli occupation is seeking to force Palestinian residents to leave their homes in Shuhada Street so that settlers can easily lay hold of the area," an activist from Hebron's Coalition of Youth Against Settlements told Ma'an.
Protests in Hebron as Israeli checkpoint closure enters 9th day
Consequently, to claim ownership of the republic means an attempt by a minority to lay hold of the political power at the expense of large masses of people.
Owners of the republic
The history of the indigenization of the Chinese church is the spiritual heritage of Chinese Christians; yet without a balanced assessment and honest acknowledgment of this history, Chinese Christians cannot fully lay hold of this heritage.
Botany or flowers? The challenges of writing the history of the indigenization of Christianity in China
will you not lay hold of it and lift it out?" (Matt 12:11).
Practice of pastoral concern
Caesar's portion made claims on our purse, but God's rightful claims lay hold of our heart, mind, soul and strength.
The worlds in which we live
This study takes [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] nponn5qaag to mean that Dioxippus lunged forward at Coragus in a crouching tackle, from which position he was able to lay hold of Coragus' sword arm with his left hand and to reach around behind him and trip up his legs with the aid of the club held in his right hand.
Understanding ancient combatives: how did dioxippus take Coragus down?
These standards are at once "instances of the Forms" while remaining "mired in the vagaries of the corporeal;" they enable us to lay hold of "true opinions" about the phenomena (54, 37).
Mohr, Richard D. God and Forms in Plato
Just as the decision of Dante to write The Divine Comedy in the vernacular and other developments in European linguistic humanism paved the way for the Renaissance and European global success, so the Arabic world needs to lay hold of their own vernaculars in order to gain a voice against corrupt and despotic Arabic rulers.
Why are the Arabs not free?; the politics of writing
Some Bush supporters are decent and intelligent, and yet they're knowingly returning to the White House an embarrassingly inept, ignorant, incurious, and unfeeling figurehead for the worst conventicle of religious nuts, plutocrats, and petrochemical bagmen ever to lay hold of our federal government.
An unmannerly pre-Election Day splenetic
"How great the temptation for Christians to lay hold of Judaism with strong arms, to cling to it until it fits in with one's own needs" (p.
In die Haare, in die Arme. 40 Jahre Arbeitsgemeinschaft "Juden und Christen beim Deutschen Evangelischen Kirchentag."
Richard Noakes' 'Instruments to Lay Hold of Spirits' takes an equally novel topic--attempts to develop a method of scientifically verifying the claims of spiritualists by measuring ghostly manifestations.
Cyborg future?
As the American philosopher John Dewey put it, "We cannot lay hold of the new, we cannot even keep it on our minds, much less understand it, save by the use of ideas and knowledge we already possess." Among the required courses possible are a foreign language, U.S.
What should be taught in Journalism schools? An aspiring reporter `doesn't need to learn how--he needs to learn what.' (Journalism Education)
Breckin Meyer supplies hearty comic relief as Kate's unemployed actor brother who assumes Leo's in the same line of work, Ryan steps back into her trademark genre like she's never been gone and, able to deliver lines like 'are you suggesting, madam, there exists a law compelling gentlemen to lay hold of canine bowel movements?' with a straight face, Jackman is as excellent as ever, the scene in which he exposes Kate's boss' smarmy bull with his knowledge of La Boheme so satisfying you can forgive Mangold overlooking the fact Leopold left his time two decades before it was written.
Culture: Truth or legend? Go with legend; Mike Davies takes a look at the week's cinema releases
The section concludes with the theology and spirituality of the liturgical year (Auge), wherein the mystery of Christ as a saving event is made present in time, so that the faithful may lay hold of it through the word and the sacraments.
Liturgical Time And Space. (Book Reviews)