behold
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /bɪˈhəʊld/
ipa: /bɪˈhoʊld/
ipa: /biˈhoʊld/
rhymes: -əʊld
rhymes: -oʊld
Forms: form: beholds
form: beholding
form: beheld
form: beheld
form: beholden
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: behold
form: behold
form: beheld
form: behold
form: beholdest
form: beheld
form: beheldst
form: beholds
form: beholdeth
form: beheld
form: behold
form: beheld
form: behold
form: beheld
form: behold
form: -
form: beholding
form: beheld
form: beholden
Etymology: From Middle English biholden, from Old English behealdan (“to hold, possess, preserve, belong, keep, observe, look at, take care, beware, be cautious, restrain, act, behave”), from Proto-West Germanic *bihaldan (“to hold with, keep”), equivalent to be- + hold. Cognate with Saterland Frisian behoolde (“to keep”), Dutch behouden (“to keep, restrain, preserve”), German behalten (“to keep, restrain, remember”), Danish and Norwegian beholde (“to keep”) and Swedish behålla (“to keep”).
Senses: examples: text: There's not the ſmalleſt orbe [in the sky] vvhich thou beholdſt, / But in his motion like an Angell ſings, / Still quiring to the young eide Cherubins; / Such harmony is in immortall ſoules, / But vvhilſt this muddy veſture of decay [i.e., the human body] / Doth groſſely cloſe in it, vve cannot heare it.
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
text: […] Alaeddin ate and drank and was cheered and after he had rested and had recovered spirits he cried, "Ah, O my mother, I have a sore grievance against thee for leaving me to that accursed wight who strave to compass my destruction and designed to take my life. Know that I beheld Death with mine own eyes at the hand of this damned wretch, whom thou didst certify to be my uncle; […]
ref: 1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “Night 532”, in A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:
text: The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again;[…]. Now she had come to look upon the matter in its true proportions, and her anticipation of a possible chance of teaching him a lesson was a pleasure to behold.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
text: I was working in the lab late one night
When my eyes beheld an eerie sight
For my monster, from his slab, began to rise
And suddenly, to my surprise
He did the Mash
He did the Monster Mash.
ref: 1962, “Monster Mash”, Bobby "Boris" Pickett and Lenny Capizzi (lyrics), performed by Bobby (Boris) Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers:
synonyms: word: behold
word: clock
word: look
word: geek
word: kool
word: regard
word: squizz
word: take a butcher's
word: take a dekko
word: take a gander
word: vada
word: viddy
word: view
glosses: To look at or see (someone or something), especially appreciatively; to descry, to look upon.
glosses: To contemplate (someone or something).
examples: text: Lo and behold.
glosses: To look.
Derived terms: beholdable
beholder
eye of the beholder
lo and behold
long and behold
sight to behold
unbeheld