Also 4 bi-, by-, beholdar, -ere. [f. BEHOLD v. + -ER1.] One who beholds, a watcher, looker on, spectator.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., V. vi. 178. God byholder and forwiter of alle þinges.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 32. I haue sett þe a beholdar to þe hows of Israel.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 203. Beynge the very seers & beholders of his magesty.
1535. Coverdale, Esther xv. 2. God, which is the beholder & Sauioure of all thinges.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., I. ii. 139. All the beholders take his part with weeping.
1660. Fuller, Mixt Contempl. (1841), 242. The multitude of actors and beholders at the mustering in Hyde Park.
1712. Budgell, Spect., No. 404, ¶ 6. If Cælia would be silent, her Beholders would adore her.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 492. A sight to gladden the beholder’s eye.
