The verb form is derived from Old English "haldan" or "healdan" meaning "to keep watch over" (among many other meanings).
The noun form meaning "grip" derives from the verb, while the meaning "space on a ship" is a corruption of Middle English "holl" which has a different source, deriving either from the Old English adjective hol meaning "hollow", or the Old English noun hulu meaning "husk."
The Irish poet Ciaran O'Driscoll is the author of a poem entitled Please Hold which satirizes the attempted paying of a phone bill through an automated voice service. Links.
(the total number of views from the links is a proxy for your probability of reselling the poem on the secondary market)
NightCafe Image Source