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Dictionary entry overview: What does holding pen mean?
• HOLDING PEN [noun]
The noun HOLDING PEN has 1 sense:
1. a pen where livestock is temporarily confined
Familiarity information: HOLDING PEN used as a noun is very rare.
Dictionary entry details
• HOLDING PEN [noun]
Sense 1
Meaning:
A pen where livestock is temporarily confined
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Synonyms:
holding paddock; holding pen; holding yard
Hypernyms ["holding pen" is a kind of...]:
pen [an enclosure for confining livestock]
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Hi guys, I was doing a listening test, and faced below sentence. Could you please tell me what the 'met off the boat' and 'holding pens' mean? You’re met off the boat by the farmer and he’ll take you to the holding pens, where the sheep are kept. Children love feeding them! The transcript of the listening test is available here:
Family Excursions - IELTS listening practice test
Amir
When your boat arrives at the other side of the lake, the farmer is waiting to greet you.
A pen is an enclosure [on a farm] in which you keep animals. Holding suggests that they are not kept there permanently but only at night, for example.
"Off the boat" [or bus, train plane or other mode of transport] is common [in BrE at least], and means "immediately after you get off". In other words, at the boat terminal, bus stop, railway station, airport or whatever place the transportation arrives at.
Thank you so much from both of you.
Considering your explanation I think I have to read with a comma after met it like this: You’re met, off the boat by the farmer and he’ll take you to the holding pens, where the sheep are kept. Children love feeding them! It means Your are welcomed by farmers, off the boat by the farmers and...... I am somehow confused by holding pens. I never heard a meaning for holding.
Thanks for your clarifications.
Amir
Considering your explanation I think I have to read with a comma after met it like this:
You’re met, off the boat by the farmer and he’ll take you to the holding pens, where the sheep are kept. Children love feeding them!
Holding pens are commonly used for animals waiting to be transported somewhere. The animals are being held there, waiting for something. In this case, I think e2efour has it right, that it means pens where animals are temporarily kept [for when children are visiting, perhaps].
Thank you Uncle Jack.
Now everything is clear.