Holed

Holed is the past tense and past participle of the verb hole, meaning to create or to be pierced by a hole. As an adjective, holed describes an object that contains one or more holes, or has been perforated or penetrated. The term is used across several domains, including manufacturing, construction, and reporting of damage.

In manufacturing and engineering, a holed component has holes or perforations introduced deliberately for fastening, weight reduction, ventilation, or drainage. Perforated metal sheets, filters, and gaskets are commonly described as holed. In mechanical contexts, material strength can be described as being reduced if it is holed by damage or corrosion.

In safety and damage reporting, 'holed' often refers to hulls of ships or aircraft that have been pierced by projectiles or other impacts, creating a breach. For example, a ship or aircraft may be described as holed when the continuous surface has a penetrated opening. The degree of damage depends on hole size, location, and the system's redundancy.

Etymology: holed comes from the verb to hole, formed by adding the regular English past tense suffix -ed to the noun hole. The term has long-standing usage in technical and colloquial registers. It is distinct from holey, which means full of holes, and from hollow, which denotes emptiness inside.

See also: hole, perforation, hull breach, perforated sheet.