Behold desire to be rather mean (6)

'be rather mean' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'behold desire' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'behold' could be 'lo' (archaic exclamation meaning 'look!') and 'lo' is located in the answer.
'desire' could be 'wish' (wish is a kind of desire) and 'wish' is found within the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'to' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?