Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

θ	thin	ð	this	ʃ	she	ʒ	measure
tʃ	church	dʒ	judge	ŋ	sing	j	yes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

-s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
-ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
-ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

hold up

verb

Forms holds up holding up held up

verb (intransitive, informal) To wait or delay. “Hold up a minute. I want to check something.”
verb (transitive) To impede; detain. “I've got to get to work now. Why are you holding me up?”
verb (idiomatic) To detain by threatening, usually with a weapon, in order to commit robbery. “The guy tried to hold up a bank.”
verb (transitive) To support or lift. “Hold up the table while I slide this underneath.”
verb (figurative) To highlight, as if lifting up for display. “His lectures held up Napoleon as an example of the phenomenon.”
verb (idiomatic) To fulfil or complete one's part of an agreement. “I don't think he's holding up his end of the bargain.”
verb (idiomatic) To withstand; to stand up to; to survive. “hold up to scrutiny”
verb To keep up; not to fall behind; not to lose ground.

Synonyms

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “hold up”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details