What's "hold on" mean and when's it used?
Native speaker’s answer
Rebecca
"Hold on" is a way of telling someone to wait. One can also say, "hold on a second" or "hold on a moment." "Hold" in this context means to refrain from doing something else, not to continue what they were doing. It can be used when you need someone to wait a bit, usually when you have to do something or check something, but it isn't usually used for long periods of waiting, just short ones. Or, it's used to draw attention to someone or something so that everyone stops doing something. Ex: Hold on, I need to tie my shoelaces. Ex: Just, hold on. I'll be back in five minutes. Ex: Hold on! Where are we going, and why?