behold

[bih-hohld] /bɪˈhoʊld/

verb (used with object), beheld, beholding.

to observe; look at; see.

interjection

look; see:

And, behold, three sentries of the King did appear.

Origin

before 900; Middle English beholden, Old English behaldan to keep. See be-, hold¹

Related forms

beholdable, adjective

beholder, noun

unbeholdable, adjective

Synonyms

1. regard, gaze upon, view; watch; discern.

Examples from the web for behold

Landscapes, no less than people, are transformed by the eyes that behold them.
Biomedical innovation has stalled, but behold the awesome power of the buck-toothed mole.
No doubt the look of immediate buyer's remorse would be priceless to behold.
The reflection in the eye of one of these little chicks was a wonder to behold.
behold the future of atomic energy in a comic book from the dawn of the atomic age.
In addition to being data-laden, though, these images are simply wonderful to behold.
behold a few glimpses of the amazing stuff they're doing.
The freelance economy is an amazing thing to behold.
And are on the precipice of slide to something awful to behold.
And lo and behold they are finding a lot more infections than anybody realized were there, and that is likely to continue.

British Dictionary definitions for behold

behold

/bɪˈhəʊld/

verb (often used in the imperative to draw attention to something, archaic or literary) -holds, -holding, -held

to look (at); observe

Derived Forms

beholder, noun

Word Origin

Old English bihealdan; related to Old High German bihaltan, Dutch behouden; see be-, hold

Word Origin and History for behold

Old English bihaldan (West Saxon behealdan) "give regard to, hold in view," also "to keep hold of, to belong to," from be- + haldan, healdan (see hold). Related: Beheld; beholding. A common West Germanic compound, cf. Old Saxon bihaldan "hold, keep," Old Frisian bihalda, Old High German bihaltan, German behalten, but "[t]he application to watching, looking, is confined to English" [OED].