espy
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Middle English aspien, espien (“to make covert observations of (a person or place) with hostile intent, to spy on; to seek to discover by spying; to act as a spy; to catch sight of, see; to look over, observe; to wait in ambush, to ambush; to plot against; to look for, seek to find; to inquire or look into, investigate; to discover, find”) [and other forms], from Old French espier (“to watch”) (modern French épier (“to keep an eye on, watch; to spy on; (dated) to watch for”)), from Vulgar Latin *spiāre, from Frankish *spehōn (“to look, peer; to spy”), from Proto-Germanic *spehōną (“to look, peer; to spy”), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look, observe, see”). Doublet of spy.
Cognates
* Ancient Greek σκέπτομαι (sképtomai, “to examine; to look at; to consider, think”)
* Italian spiare
* Latin speciō (“to look at, observe, watch”)
* Old High German spehōn (modern German spähen)
* Occitan espiar
* Spanish espiar
Inflected forms:
form: espies
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: espying
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: espied
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: espied
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: espy
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: espy
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: espied
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: espy
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: espiest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: espyest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: espied
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: espies
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: espieth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: espyeth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: espied
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: espy
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: espied
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: espy
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: espied
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: espy
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: espying
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: espied
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: espie
pos: verb
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: To find out or observe (someone or something, especially if not easy to see) by spying or looking; to catch sight of; to see; to spot.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to espy land    to espy a man in a crowd
No wyse man entreth in to a gardein but he sone espiethe good herbes from nettiles, and treadeth the nettiles under his feete whiles he gadreth good herbes.
For with ſuch puiſſance and impetuous maine / Thoſe Champions broke on them, that forſt the fly, / Like ſcattered Sheepe, whenas the Shepherds ſwaine / A Lyon and a Tigre doth eſpye, / With greedy pace forth ruſhing from the foreſt nye.
[T]hou eſpyedſt a poore drunken Begger (his belly beeing full) heyghing, leaping and dauncing, fetching ſtrange youthfull friskes, & taking care for nothing.
[T]he Lark (poore bird!) afarre eſpi'th / Her yet unfeather'd children (vvhom to ſave / She ſtrives in vain) ſlain by the fatall ſithe, / VVhich from the medovv her green locks doth ſhave, / That their vvarm neſt is novv become their grave; […]
The faults hee eſpyeth in others, he vvill comdemn in himſelfe; if not in the act and habit, vvhich grace preſerueth him from, yet in the ſeedes and inclination: […]
Now when they were got almoſt quite out of this Wilderneſs, Faithful chanced to caſt his eye back, and eſpied one coming after them, and he knew him.
Then began I vvith ſad and careful heart, to conſider of the nature and largeneſs of my ſin, and to ſearch in the vvord of God, if I could in any place eſpy a vvord of Promiſe, or any encouraging Sentence by vvhich I might take relief.
Thou eſpiedſt the ſhallop's ſcarlet ſtreamer from far, and joyfully ſhoutedſt: Behold Lars cometh!
Alas! what ails poor Geraldine? / Why stares she with unsettled eye? / Can she the bodiless dead espy?
If we could open and intend our eye, / We all, like Moses, should espy, / E'en in a bush, the radiant Deity.
[Mr. Jewsbury] was trying to espy a squirrel he had seen run up the trunk of an elm, […]
Bimala looked at the direction in silence. Deep and hard breathings entered her ear, and she espied something near the road.
"Ha!" said John, espying the open casket, "where did you get all that jewelry?"
By the turn of the 18th century, when Captain [John] Cranby espied [Emanuel] Wynn's skull and crossbones, the piracy trade was flourishing and ambitious pirates were becoming increasingly sophisticated in the way they operated.
gloss: To see (someone or something) without foreplanning or unexpectedly.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: […] I chaunced to eſpie thys foraſyde Peter talkynge wyth a certeyne ſtraunger a man well ſtryken in age wyth a blake sonne burned face, a longe bearde and a cloke catſe homely about hys ſhoulders, whom by hys fauour & apparrel forthwythe I iudged to be a maryner.
Come on my Lords the better foot before, / Straight vvill I bring you to the lothſome pit, / VVhere I eſpied the Panther faſt a ſleepe.
And as one of them opened his ſacke, to giue his aſſe prouender in the Inne, he eſpied his money: for behold, it was in his ſackes mouth.
[T]heir came tovvards me one of theſe ſeemingly deuout Abdals, in his ſheeps skin & horne about his necke and bare-footed, eſpying me, hee bleſt himſelfe and ſuddenly began to mutter his prayer to Mahomet vvith feruent ardencie, […]
After a long time the master turned about and walked into the cabin and, there espying Philip Marsham, he smiled and said, ‘‘I was remiss. I had forgotten you.” He threw aside the cloak that lay on the chair and sat down.
gloss: To observe (someone or something) as a spy; also, to examine or observe (someone or something) carefully; or to look out or watch for.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: Remember the subtyle worldly wyse Counsellours of Hāmon, the sonne of Naas, king of the Amonites, which when Dauid had sent hys seruauntes to comfort the yong kyng, for the death of hys father, by craftye imaginacions counselled Hāmon not alonely not to receiue them gently, but to entreate them most shamefullye and cruellye, sayinge that they came not to comforte hym, but to espye and search hys lande, so that afterward they brynging Dauid woorde howe euerye thynge stoode, Dauid myghte come and conquer it.
Novv queſtion me no more vve are eſpied, / Here comes a parcell of our hopefull bootie, / VVhich dreads not yet their liues deſtruction.
Fortie yeeres olde was I when Moſes the ſeruant of the Lord ſent me from Kadeſh Barnea, to eſpie out the land, and I brought him worde againe, as it was in mine heart.
VVe keep company vvith Harlots and polluted perſons: vve are kind to all Gods Enemies, and love that vvhich he hates: […] And therefore God is inquiſitive; he looks for that vvhich he fain vvould never finde; God ſets ſpies upon us; he looks upon us himſelf through the Curtains of a cloud; and he ſends Angels to eſpie us in all our vvayes, […]
gloss: To become aware of (a fact, information, etc.).
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: If being the Commander of an army, thou eſpieſt a groſſe and manifeſt error in thine Enemy, look vvell to thy ſelfe, for treachery is not farre off: Hee vvhom deſire of victory binds too much, is apt to ſtumble at his ovvne Ruine.
VVhat faults ſoever Thou eſpieſt here, / Fall to, and make thee merry vvith the Cheer.
O Moſt and Gracious Father, the ſearcher of all hearts; vvho ſeeſt my dovvn-lying as vvell as up riſing, darkneſs and light being both alike to thee; vvho art near unto all my vvays, and eſpyeſt my thoughts vvhile they are yet afar off, I have here ſet my ſelf before thee to pay my evening homage, […]
gloss: To observe as a spy, to spy; also, to examine or observe carefully; or to look out or watch.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
intransitive
examples: O inhabitant of Aroer, ſtand by the way, and eſpie; aſke him that fleeth, and her that eſcapeth, and ſay, VVhat is done?
[H]eedful be his eye, / And firm his step, who on the dark edge [of a peak] stands / Beneath the cloud, and downward dares espy.
Related words: espial
espionage
spy
Derived words: espiable
espier
espying
unespied
Translations:
lang: Bulgarian
word: разглеждам
roman: razgleždam
lang: Bulgarian
word: наблюдавам
roman: nabljudavam
lang: Dutch
word: onderzoeken
lang: Dutch
word: bespioneren
lang: Latin
word: prospicio
lang: Polish
word: badać dokładnie
lang: Polish
word: zbadać dokładnie
lang: Russian
word: наблюда́ть
roman: nabljudátʹ