holt

Meanings

1. A small piece of woodland or a woody hill; a copse.
2. The lair of an animal, especially of an otter.

1. A surname An English and north-west European topographic surname for someone who lived by a small wood.
2. A placename
3. A number of places in the United Kingdom:
4. A village and civil parish in Dorset, England, previously in East Dorset district (OS grid ref SU0203).
5. A suburb of the town of Hook, Hart district, Hampshire (OS grid ref SU7354).
6. A market town and civil parish with a town council in North Norfolk district, Norfolk, England (OS grid ref TG0738).
7. A village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England (OS grid ref ST8662).
8. A village and civil parish in Malvern Hills district, Worcestershire, England (OS grid ref SO8262).
9. A village and community in Wrexham borough county borough, Wales, on the River Dee, the border with England (OS grid SJ4153).
10. A number of places in the United States:
11. An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama.
12. An unincorporated community in San Joaquin County, California.

Etymology

From Middle English holt, from Old English holt (“forest, wood, grove, thicket; wood, timber”), from Proto-West Germanic *holt, from Proto-Germanic *hultą (“wood”), from Proto-Indo-European *kald-, *klād- (“timber, log”), from Proto-Indo-European *kola-, *klā- (“to beat, hew, break, destroy, kill”). Cognate with Scots holt (“a wood, copse, thicket”), North Frisian holt (“wood, timber”), West Frisian hout (“timber, wood”), Dutch hout (“wood, timber”), German Holz (“wood”), Icelandic holt (“woodland, hillock”), Old Irish caill (“forest, wood, woodland”), Ancient Greek κλάδος (kládos, “branch, shoot, twig”), Slovene kol ("stake"), Albanian shul (“door latch”). Doublet of hout.