hole

n.

1. A perforation

   notch, puncture, slot, eyelet, keyhole, porthole, buttonhole, peephole, loophole, embrasure, crenel, air hole, stop, mousehole, window, crack, rent, split, tear, cleft, opening, fissure, gap, gash, rift, rupture, fracture, break, leak, nostril, oeil-de-boeuf (French), aperture, space, chasm, breach, slit, nick, cut, chink, scission, vent, incision, orifice, scissure, spiracle, leak, interstice, vent hole, scupper, foramen, eye, rime, acupuncture; see also sense 2.

2. A cavity

   crater, mouth, gorge, throat, gullet, orifice, aperture, cranny, foramen, manhole, dent, opening, depression, indentation, impression, corner, shell hole, pockmark, swimming hole, pocket, dimple, dip, void, lacuna, vacuum, drop, gulf, depth, pit, abyss, hollow, basin, chasm, vent, crevasse, trench, foxhole, mine, concavity, shaft, chamber, defile, scoop, valley, ravine, burrow, rift, fossa, cell, cistern, niche, alveolus, spider hole*; see also sense 1.

3. A cave

   burrow, den, lair, grotto, cavern, cove, tunnel, excavation, mound, passage, refuge, retreat, furrow, dugout, honeycomb, warren, covert, shelter; see also sense 2.

4. *Serious difficulty

   impasse, tangle, mess; see crisis, difficulty 1, emergency.

5. In golf, a depression made for the ball

   drop, cup, pocket, first to 18th hole, pot*, mocking cup*.

hole is the general word for an open space in a thing and may suggest a depression in a surface or an opening from surface to surface a hole in the ground, a hole in a sock; hollow basically suggests an empty space within a solid body, whether or not it extends to the surface, but it may also be applied to a depressed place in a surface a wooded hollow; cavity is generally equivalent to hole or hollow and also has special application in formal and scientific usage the thoracic cavity; an excavation is a hollow made in or through ground by digging the excavations at Pompeii

burn a hole in one's pocket

in the hole*

make a hole in

pick holes in