behold

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Those inaccessible and torturing hours into which she had gone to taste of unknown pleasures--behold, a breach in the wall, and we are through it.

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Definitions (15)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. transitive verb To perceive by the visual faculty; see: beheld a tiny figure in the distance.
  2. transitive verb To perceive through use of the mental faculty; comprehend: "Behold the man of the future” (Jerry Adler).
  3. transitive verb To look upon; gaze at: We beheld a beautiful vista before us. See Synonyms at see1.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (8)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples (50)

  • I have come to life again--behold, I am he Dusky hands were raised in salutation, and one evil-looking warrior stepped forward: 'I am also proof against bullets. —  Chatterbox, 1905.
  • Happy for the young Ruler, who in this difficult position learns first to triumph over his impetuous impulses, and attains in the springtime of his life that self-control which hoary age with difficulty acquires Sidenote: Praises of Amalasuentha As for the Mother whom he so dutifully obeys, her most fittingly do all kingdoms venerate, whom to behold is to adore, to listen to is to witness a miracle. —  The Letters of Cassiodorus Being A Condensed Translation Of The Variae Epistolae Of Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator
  • WHAT DOEST THOU HERE And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?" —  Sermons at Rugby
  • But behold, it was night; therefore they did not overtake us, neither did Antipus overtake them; therefore we did camp for the night Alma 56:39 39 And it came to pass that before the dawn of the morning, behold, the Lamanites were pursuing us. —  The Book of Mormon
  • But our work,--behold that is not abolished, that has not vanished: our work, behold, it remains, or the want of it remains;--for endless Times and Eternities, remains; and that is now the sole question with us forevermore! —  Past and Present
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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behold:   beheld ·  beholds
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English biholden, from Old English behaldan : be-, be- + healdan, to hold; see hold1.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English beholden, biholdan, bihalden, hold, bind by obligation (in this sense only in past participle beholden, beholde: see beholden), commonly observe, see, from Anglo-Saxon behealdan, hold, keep, observe, see (= Old Saxon bihaldan = OFries. bihalda = Dutch behouden = Old High German bihaltan, behalten, Middle High German G. keep), from be- + healdan, hold, keep: see be- and hold. Other words combining the senses ‘keep’ and ‘look at’ are observe and regard.
 

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/bəˈhoʊld/
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