Bihealdan

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Old English verb meaning to keep hold of something ; to observe or maintain a law, custom or obligation ; to restrain someone or hold them back
2. An Old English verb for retaining or keeping an object ; to faithfully observe a rule or tradition ; to check or restrain a person or thing
3. Old English verb meaning to grasp and retain something ; to keep to a law or practice faithfully ; to hold back or curb someone's movement

Etymology: Bihealdan is an Old English verb, a compound of "be-", a prefix meaning "about" or "around", and "healdan", "to hold". Its core sense was therefore something like "to hold around" or "to keep hold of", and the modern English "behold" is a direct descendant, though it has drifted far from its physical origin. Where "healdan" meant grasping or keeping possession of something, "bihealdan" intensified that idea of holding fast, and it was used to describe guarding, keeping, or retaining. Over the centuries the prefix and root separated in meaning in English. The "hold" element survived in a range of compounds, while "behold" eventually shifted from physically keeping something to mentally taking something in with the eyes and mind, to look at with attention. That change happened gradually in Middle English, and the older sense of retaining or holding onto something is what the Old English verb originally carried.