Emily Dickinson Lexicon

behavior, n. [EME be- + habben, hold, encompass, contain, detain.]

Conduct; comportment; carriage; demeanor; actions; moral deportment; common duties in life; course of action towards others; [fig.] faith; will to live; meaning of life; (see Titus 2:3).

behead (-s), v. [OE be- + héafod; see head, n.] (webplay: off).

Decapitate; decollate; take the head off; kill by depriving of the head (see 2 Samuel 4:7); [fig.] freeze; kill blooms with freezing temperatures.

beheld, v. [see behold, v.]

behind, adv. [OE bi- + hindan 'direction from'.] (webplay: back, beyond, death, departure, distant, evidence, excellence, forgetting, hill, inferior, house, leaves, left, look, note, past, servant, side, sight, time, tree).

1. Belated; delayed; overdue; tardy; too late.
2. Remaining; lingering; not taken with; (see 1 Samuel 30:9).
3. Backward; back in time; to the former direction; (see Genesis 19:17, 19:26).
4. Yesterday; (see Psalms 139:5).
5. Back in place; in a posterior position.
6. Prior; previous; complete; finished; in the past.
7. Away; to rest; out of sight.
8. Visible to the rear.
9. Lagging; trailing; delayed in position.
10. Phrase. “Leave behind”: abandon; forsake.

behind, prep. [see behind, adv.] (webplay: death, departure, distance, front, hill, house, inferior, left, looks, nearest, notice, past, servant, side, sight, tree, walk).

1. Beyond; on the far side of; in the background of.
2. After; following; in light of; in the wake of.
3. Hidden by; obscured by.
4. In back of; hidden to view of; out of sight of.
5. Supporting; upholding; sustaining.
6. On the other side of.
7. In the past of; already experienced by.

behold (-ing, -s, beheld), v. [OE bihaldan; see hold, v.] (webplay: eyes, God, guard, lived, look, mind, observe, see, sense, sight, taketh away, world).

1. Consider; contemplate; ponder; think of.
2. [Command form intensifier] Lo!; look; pay attention; bear witness; (see 1 Kings 20:13).
3. Fix the eyes upon; see with attention; observe with care; (see John 1:29).
4. Discover; uncover; find; attain; acquire; achieve; learn; realize; understand; comprehend; experience; come into possession of.
5. See; look at; notice; view; watch; fix the mind on; (see Numbers 21:9).
6. Discern; feel; observe; perceive; attend to.

behoove (-th), v. [OE bihóf, useful, necessary.]

Suit; fit; become; serve; please; satisfy; conform to; comply with; (see Hebrews 2:17).

being (-s, 's), verbal n. [see be, v.] (webplay: closeness, creature, endowed, existence, give, God, house, human, leave, live, made, mortal, motion, move, nature's, nearness, place, race, spirit, state, time, twain).

1. Entity; life form; self; soul; individual.
2. Existence; life force; consciousness; essence of the universe.
3. Human person; [word play on “I am”] Christ; deity; divine person (see Exodus 3:14).
4. Creature; harmless animal.

belated, verbal adj. [see late, adj.] (webplay: abroad, night).

Benighted; walking about after dark; [polysemy] slow; unpunctual; delayed; not on time.

belief (-s, -'s), n. [ME bileafa, dear, esteemed, valuable, beloved < OE.] (webplay: consent, doubt, earth, faith, God, heaven, knowledge, leave, live, mind, name, opposed, permission, power, see, strong, suppose, think, trust, witness, yielding).

1. Divine expectation; hope in something not seen; persuasion of the truth of an alleged fact, distinct from personal knowledge; positive opinion, not based on evidence; acceptance of the testimony of another; (see 2 Thessalonians 2:13).
2. Thought; idea; conception; confidence.
3. Faith; trust; assent of mind; reliance even in the face of some doubt.
4. Hope; prospect; conviction of an afterlife.