Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1400-1500
Origin: have 'to hold or bear (yourself), behave' (14-16 centuries)

behave

 verb
     
be‧have S3 W3 [intransitive]
1 [always + adverb/preposition] to do things that are good, bad, sensible etc [= act]:
She behaved in a very responsible way.
behave towards
I think he behaved disgracefully towards you.
behave like
grown men behaving like schoolboys
behave as if/though
He was a little boy, but he behaved as if he was an adult.
2 also behave yourself to not do things that annoy or offend people [≠ misbehave]:
Will you children please behave!
I hope Nicholas behaved himself at the party.
well-behaved/badly-behaved
a badly-behaved class
3 [always + adverb/preposition] if something behaves in a particular way, it does those things:
Quantum mechanics is the study of the way atoms behave.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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