Holey means full of holes. When your favorite socks wear out and develop holes in the toes and heels, they become holey socks. An old t-shirt with holes might be holey but still comfortable enough to wear around the house.

The word is simply an adjective form of “hole,” pronounced exactly like the word “holy” but spelled differently. If you write that your jeans are holy, you're saying something very different from saying they're holey and need patches!

You might hear someone joke about holey cheese when talking about Swiss cheese, which has characteristic holes throughout. A slice of bread that birds have pecked at could be described as holey. The word suggests something that once was whole but now has openings or gaps where solid material should be.