different between behold vs meditate

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

Etymology

From Latin meditatus, past participle of meditari (“to think or reflect upon, consider, design, purpose, intend”), in form as if frequentative of mederi (“to heal, to cure, to remedy”); in sense and in form near to Greek ?????? (meletô, “to care for, attend to, study, practise, etc.”)

Pronunciation

Verb

meditate (third-person singular simple present meditates, present participle meditating, simple past and past participle meditated)

1. (intransitive) To contemplate; to keep the mind fixed upon something; to study.
2. (intransitive) To sit or lie down and come to a deep rest while still remaining conscious.
3. (transitive) To consider; to reflect on.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:ponder

Related terms

• meditative
• meditation
• meditator

Translations

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• admittee, datetime

Italian

Verb

meditate

1. second-person plural present indicative of meditare
2. second-person plural imperative of meditare
3. feminine plural of meditato

Latin

Participle

medit?te

1. vocative masculine singular of medit?tus

References

• meditate in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• meditate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette