Rinse hold (laundry left in the water)
The programme stops after the last rinse without draining or spinning, and leaves the laundry standing in the rinse water until you choose what happens next.
What it is for
Keeping laundry from creasing when you cannot take it out as soon as the programme ends: Miele and Beko both give that reason. When you are ready, choose a spin speed and press Start — the machine drains and spins (Beko spells this out; Miele’s manual does the same by setting a spin speed and touching Start/Stop). If you want the water out but no spin at all, both makers offer that as a separate setting: no spin on Beko, 0 rpm on Miele.
Makes differ, check your machine’s manual: the same drawing can mean different things on different brands, and only your model’s manual says exactly what a programme does, how hot and how long.
- What it looks like
- An empty wash tub with a straight line across its rim — no water, arrow, drops or plus in it. Beko’s segment display draws a smaller open-topped tub in the spin-speed digits.
- Names makers use
- Rinse hold (Bosch, Miele, Beko)
Where makes differ
Bosch lists rinse hold as a display symbol that lets you switch spinning and draining at the end of the cycle on or off. Miele offers it as an Extra and also falls back to it by itself: with Extra quiet selected, the final spin “is automatically reduced to” rinse hold, drawn as the same empty tub. On a Beko the spin button steps down through the speeds to rinse hold and then to no spin, so the two sit side by side on the display and are easy to mix up — no spin drains the water, rinse hold keeps it. Samsung’s No Spin is likewise not rinse hold: its drum does not spin after the final drain, so the water is already gone.
Often confused with
Empties the water out of the drum, with or without a final spin. It does not wash or rinse.
Other symbols with the same shapes
PrewashA wash tub with a single vertical line dropping into it — the…
SoakA wash tub with a single wavy water line low in it — water…
RinseA wash tub with water pouring or spraying into it from above — a…
Extra rinseThe rinse tub or sink with a small plus sign above or beside it.
Main wash (II)Two upright lines, the Roman numeral II — on its own over a…What this page cannot tell you
It cannot say how long your machine will wait in rinse hold, or whether it drains by itself after a while — none of the three documents gives a time limit. Rinse hold appears in Bosch’s guide, one Miele manual and one Beko manual; on other makes the same option may carry only the words Rinse Hold, sit on the spin button as a setting, or not exist.
Sources
No single published standard defines washing-machine or dryer programme icons, so this meaning is taken from 3 makers’ own guides and manuals, each fetched and read on the date shown:
- Bosch: Bosch Home UK — Washing machine symbols guide — Rinse hold symbol (an empty tub with a line across the top): “The laundry will remain in the water after the last rinse cycle.” — “Activate or deactivate spinning and draining at the end of the washing cycle.” Checked 2026-10-16.
- Miele: Miele — Operating instructions for washing machines, WWV 980 WPS Passion (PDF) — Extra options, page 53, drawn as an empty tub: “The laundry is not spun after the final rinse and remains in the rinse water. This helps to prevent creasing if the laundry is not going to be removed from the drum immediately after the end of the programme.” Page 43, “Ending a programme with a spin cycle”: “Select the desired spin speed.” and “Touch the Start/Stop sensor control to start the final spin.” Checked 2026-10-16.
- Beko: Beko UK — WI 1382 washing machine user’s manual (PDF) — Spin speed selection, page 21: “Rinse hold and no spin options are shown respectively.” With rinse hold “your laundry is kept in the final rinsing water. If you want to spin your laundry after the rinse hold function: Adjust the spin speed. Press “Start/Pause/Cancel” button.” The machine “drains the water and spins your laundry.” Checked 2026-10-16.
Written in our own words; quotations are the makers’ wording.