behold
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behold
- /bɪˈhəʊld/ UK
- /bɪˈhoʊld/ Canada, US
- /biˈhoʊld/ Canada, US
Rhymes with -əʊld, -oʊld
Where it comes from
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”).
verb beholds · beholding · beheld · beholden · behold
- To look at or see (someone or something), especially appreciatively; to descry, to look upon. 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 hear
- To contemplate (someone or something).
- To look. Lo and behold.
