I. noun
Usage: sometimes capitalized B&H
Etymology: from Black Hole ( of Calcutta ), a military lockup in Calcutta, India, where 146 Europeans were disastrously incarcerated in 1756
: a place of confinement for punishment ; specifically : a military lockup
II. noun
1. : a hypothetical celestial object that has a gravitational field so strong that light cannot escape it and that is believed to be created in the collapse of a very massive star
2. : one that resembles a black hole: as
a. : one into which something disappears
do not foresee the international debt situation dragging the banking system into a financial black hole — Business Week
b. : something unseen or undetected
the black hole of error revealed — Mavis Gallant
c. : an empty space : void
paused, as if he had suddenly come upon a black hole in the space of his ambition — Anatole Broyard