different between peek vs behold

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: p?k, IPA^(key): /pi?k/

  Homophones: peak, peke, pique

• Rhymes: -i?k

Alternative forms

• peak, peke (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From Middle English *peken, piken (“to peep”), probably a fusion of peep and keek.

Verb

peek (third-person singular simple present peeks, present participle peeking, simple past and past participle peeked)

1. (informal) To look slyly, or with the eyes half closed, or through a crevice; to peep.
2. (informal) To be only slightly, partially visible, as if peering out from a hiding place.
3. (computing, transitive) To retrieve (a value) from a memory address.
   • 2006, Gary Willoughby, PureBasic: A Beginner's Guide to Computer Programming (page 279)

     We are peeking the value from the first index's memory location.

Translations

Related terms

• peekable
• sneak peek

Etymology 2

Noun

peek

1. Misspelling of pique.

Anagrams

• Ekpe, Keep, Peke, keep, kepe, peke

Basque

Noun

peek

1. ergative plural of pe

Hlai

Etymology

From Proto-Hlai *p?a?k (“high”), from Pre-Hlai *pa?k (Norquest, 2015).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Hlai) IPA^(key): /p?e?k?/

Adjective

peek

1. high

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