@Li_Helen Could you give me an example sentence? and I want to ask you why 'to hold up' means that. Because I can't regonize it from a literal meaning of holding up.

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Li_Helen

4 Dec 2020

English (US)

@AranBaek I understand where you're coming from, so I'll try to explain in the best way I can.

When you're holding up something, you're making everyone else wait. For example, if you're holding up a line, you could be rummaging through your bag to find spare change. Another example is if you're using the bathroom and people are outside waiting for you to come out. They can't go inside the bathroom until you finish your business, so you can associate this with your question. If I'm holding up a bank, no one else can do much to stop me, and since they can't stop me, I'm going to use this to my advantage and rob the bank.

I hope this explanation helps! Let me know if you're still confused!

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AranBaek

4 Dec 2020

Korean

AranBaek

4 Dec 2020

Korean

Than you from the bottom of my heart. That makes sense.

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How do you say this in English (US)? How can 'to hold up' mean to steal something by threatening? See a translation

Do you mean holding up one's belongings for someone to snatch? If not, may you provide more context, so I can help you?

@AranBaek It means to try to steal something from someone or something by using violence or threats, as you mentioned. However, it's an uncommon way of saying you're trying to steal from a store and are usually used in more serious situations.

@AranBaek Yes! However, it's still not very common to use in those cases either. In my opinion, this is most likely used if you're with a gang of people you want to/have robbed someone/a place with or if you're trying to boast (brag) about robbing someone/a place.

How do you say this in English (US)? How can 'to hold up' mean to steal something by threatening?

See a translation