behold

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English

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Etymology

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From Middle English beholden, from Old English behealdan (to hold, have, occupy, possess, guard, preserve, contain, belong, keep, observe, consider, behold, look at, gaze on, see, signify, avail, effect, 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

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Verb

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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.

Usage notes

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

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Interjection

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behold

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

Synonyms

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Translations

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References

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Danish

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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

Noun

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behold c (uninflected)

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

Etymology 2

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See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

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behold

  1. imperative of beholde

Norwegian Bokmål

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Verb

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behold

  1. imperative of beholde