different between behold vs discover

English

Etymology

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /b??h??ld/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /b??ho?ld/

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To see or look at, esp. appreciatively; to descry, look upon.
   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Supplemental Nights to the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 532:

     […] Alaeddin ate and drank and was cheered and after he had rested and had recovered spirits he cried, "Ah, O my mother, I have a sore grievance against thee for leaving me to that accursed wight who strave to compass my destruction and designed to take my life. Know that I beheld Death with mine own eyes at the hand of this damned wretch, whom thou didst certify to be my uncle; […]
2. (intransitive) To look.
3. (transitive) To contemplate.

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:look

Derived terms

• beholder
  • eye of the beholder

Translations

Interjection

behold

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

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:lo

Translations

References

• behold in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• behold in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [b?e?h?l?]

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 main entry.

Verb

behold

1. imperative of beholde

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

behold

1. imperative of beholde

English

Alternative forms

• discovre (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English discoveren, from Old French descovrir, from Late Latin discoper?re < discooperi?, discooper?re, from Latin dis- + cooperi?.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d?s?k?v?/
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /d?s?k?v?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d?s?k?v?/
• Rhymes: -?v?(?)
• Hyphenation: dis?cov?er

Verb

discover (third-person singular simple present discovers, present participle discovering, simple past and past participle discovered)

1. To find or learn something for the first time.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To remove the cover from; to uncover (a head, building etc.).
3. (transitive, now rare) To expose, uncover.

4. (transitive, chess) To create by moving a piece out of another piece's line of attack.

5. (law, transitive) To question (a person) as part of discovery in a lawsuit.
6. (transitive, archaic) To reveal (information); to divulge, make known.
   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Adversity

     Prosperity doth best discover vice; but adversity doth best discover virtue.

7. (transitive, obsolete) To reconnoitre, explore (an area).

   • they seyde the same, and were aggreed that Sir Clegis, Sir Claryon, and Sir Clement the noble, that they sholde dyscover the woodys, bothe the dalys and the downys.

8. (obsolete) To manifest without design; to show; to exhibit.
   • 1871, Charles John Smith}}, Synonyms Discriminated

     The youth discovered a taste for sculpture.

Synonyms

• (expose something previously covered): expose, reveal, uncover
• (find something for the first time): come across, find

Antonyms

• (expose something previously covered): conceal, cover, cover up, hide

Derived terms

• discovery
• discovered attack
• discovered check

Translations

See also

• invent
• detect
• find
• stumble upon

Anagrams

• codrives, discovre, divorces, divorcés