3. (old).—A private printing office where unlicensed books were made; a cock-robin shop (q.v.).—Moxon, 1683.
4. (colloquial).—A difficulty; a fix; on the turf, to be in a hole = to lose (a bet) or be defeated (of horses).
1760–61. Smollett, Sir L. Greaves, ch. xvi. I should be in a deadly hole myself if all my customers should take it into their heads to drink nothing but water-gruel.
1868. Ouida, Under Two Flags, ch. i. ‘I am in a hole—no end of a hole.’
5. (common).—A place of abode; specifically, a mean habitation; a dirty lodging. For synonyms, see Diggings.
6. (common).—The rectum: short for arse-hole. E.g., suck his hole = a derisive retort upon an affirmative answer to the [[333]]question, ‘Do you know So-and-So?’ For synonyms, see Monocular Eyeglass.
1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, ‘The Miller’s Tale.’ And at the window she put out hir hole.
1540. Lindsay, Thrie Estaits, line 2174. Lift vp hir clais: Kis hir hoill with your hart.
1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, v., 3. A pox o’ your manners, kiss my hole here, and smell.
1649. Drummond, Madrigals and Epigrams, ‘A Jest’ (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810, x., 667). She turned, and turning up her hole beneath, Said, ‘Sir, kiss here.’