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Hold up - delay
The problem is that there was a hold up with my flight coming back. First of all, we were
held up at the airport because of a storm and no flights could take off. Then we were held
up waiting for other flights to take off. Finally, we were held up at the airport when we got

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back because the baggage carousel was broken. It was just one hold up after another.
As you can see, hold up also exists as a noun. Apart from the meaning of delay, it can also mean
stopped by a robber. Joke: a man goes to town and comes back two hours later. When he returns
his wife says, ‘You’ve been a long time.’‘Yes, sorry,’he says, ‘I was held up at the bank!’