hold the floor

hold the floor (third-person singular simple present holds the floor, present participle holding the floor, simple past and past participle held the floor)

1. (idiomatic) to give a speech for people, especially one that is too long
   • 1945, United States. Congress, Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress, page 8124:

     ... floor of the Senate under which it is possible for a Senator to take the floor , and then an understanding be reached that he will hold the floor over the night recess and have the floor at the beginning of the next day's session .

   • 2004, Richard G. Forgette; Richard Forgette, Congress, Parties, & Puzzles: Politics as a Team Sport, Peter Lang, →ISBN, page 139:

     23 presiding officer to recognize first the majority leader when no other Senator holds the floor and the majority leader seeks recognition . This precedent is the structural basis for the majority leader's capacity to propose unanimous […]

• take the floor
• give the floor
• have the floor

• “hold the floor”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “hold the floor” in the Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.