holdfast

2 definitions found

holdfast - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Holdfast \Hold"fast`\, n.
     1. Something used to secure and hold in place something else,
        as a long flat-headed nail, a catch a hook, a clinch, a
        clamp, etc.; hence, a support. "His holdfast was gone."
        --Bp. Montagu.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Bot.) A conical or branching body, by which a seaweed is
        attached to its support, and differing from a root in that
        it is not specially absorbent of moisture.
        [1913 Webster]

holdfast - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  holdfast
      n 1: restraint that attaches to something or holds something in
           place [syn: fastener, fastening, holdfast, fixing]