1A firm grip.

1. 1.1 A staple or clamp securing an object to a wall or other surface.
   钉子，夹子
   Example sentencesExamples

   • Furthermore, the facts that crowns and holdfasts rarely occur attached but that each is preserved with attached incomplete columns, suggest that crowns were broken from their holdfasts prior to burial.
   • Crowns commonly have some length of column still attached, and holdfasts, less commonly recognized than crowns, also have some length of column attached.
   • Lattice panels, wires, or rough surfaces give tendrils and holdfasts a place to latch onto.

   Synonyms

   brace, vice, press
2. 1.2Biology A stalked organ by which an alga or other simple aquatic plant or animal is attached to a substrate.
   〔生〕（海藻等的）附着器，固着器
   Example sentencesExamples

   • The algae were decapitated, clamped with vice grips at their holdfasts, and secured to the bottom of a unidirectional current tank with an ordinary house brick.
   • Heavy grazing may damage and weaken the holdfasts which anchor the algae.
   • At the base of the stalk is the holdfast, which cements the alga to the rock and prevents it from being washed away.
   • The rostellum ends in a holdfast by which the cell is fixed to the gut wall of its host.