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behold

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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English

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).

Pronunciation

Verb

behold (third-person singular simple present beholds, present participle beholding, simple past beheld, past participle beheld or (rare) beholden)

  1. (transitive)
    1. To look at or see (someone or something), especially appreciatively; to descry, to look upon.
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:look
    2. To contemplate (someone or something).
  2. (intransitive) To look.
    Lo and behold.

Usage notes

Rarely used in informal speech. Often used in commands. The past participle beholden now has a meaning detached from the other forms of the word.

Conjugation

Archaic or obsolete.1 Rare.

Derived terms

Translations

Interjection

behold

  1. look, a call of attention to something
  2. lo!

Synonyms

Translations

References

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Danish

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle Low German beholt, behalt, from the verb beholden; see also Danish beholde.

Noun

behold c (uninflected)

  1. (archaic) haven, refuge
    in the phrases i behold (intact) and i god behold (safe)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

behold

  1. imperative of beholde

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

behold

  1. imperative of beholde

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