beholding

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To look at or see (someone or something), especially appreciatively; to descry, to look upon.
   • There's not the ſmalleſt orbe [in the sky] vvhich thou beholdſt, / But in his motion like an Angell ſings, / Still quiring to the young eide Cherubins; / Such harmony is in immortall ſoules, / But vvhilſt this muddy veſture of decay [i.e., the human body] / Doth groſſely cloſe in it, vve cannot...c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act...

   Synonyms:

   clock, look, geek, kool, regard, squizz, take a butcher's, take a dekko, take a gander, vada

2. (transitive) To contemplate (someone or something).
3. (intransitive) To look.
   • Lo and behold.

See all 5 meanings of behold

Adjective

beholden (not comparable)

1. (usually) Obligated to provide, display, or do something for another; indebted, obliged for a bounden duty.
   • From an early age, I had decided I wanted to be beholden to no one.