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Definition of behold verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

behold

verb
 
/bɪˈhəʊld/
 
/bɪˈhəʊld/
(old use or literary)
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they behold
 
/bɪˈhəʊld/
 
/bɪˈhəʊld/
he / she / it beholds
 
/bɪˈhəʊldz/
 
/bɪˈhəʊldz/
past simple beheld
 
/bɪˈheld/
 
/bɪˈheld/
past participle beheld
 
/bɪˈheld/
 
/bɪˈheld/
-ing form beholding
 
/bɪˈhəʊldɪŋ/
 
/bɪˈhəʊldɪŋ/
Idioms
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  1. behold somebody/something to look at or see somebody/something
    • Her face was a joy to behold.
    • They beheld a bright star shining in the sky.
    Oxford Collocations DictionaryBehold is used with these nouns as the object:
    • sight
    See full entry
    Word OriginOld English bihaldan, from bi- ‘thoroughly’ + haldan ‘to hold’. Parallel Germanic words have the sense ‘maintain, retain’; the notion of ‘looking’ is found only in English.
Idioms
lo and behold
  1. (humorous) used for calling attention to a surprising or annoying thing
    • As soon as we went out, lo and behold, it began to rain.
See behold in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
trait
noun
 
 
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