spy
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: American-football
ball-games
football
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
Etymology: From Middle English spien, aphetic variant of earlier espien (“to espy”), from Old French espier (“to spy”), from Frankish *spehōn (“to spy”), from Proto-Germanic *spehōną (“to see, look”), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look”). Akin to German spähen (“to spy”), Dutch spieden (“to spy”).
The noun displaced native Old English sċēawere (literally “watcher”), which was also the word for "mirror." In this sense, the verb displaced Old English sċēawian, which was also the word for "to watch" and became the Modern English word show.
Distant cognate vie PIE with Latin speculātor, Ancient Greek κατάσκοπος (katáskopos).
Compare typologically Russian согляда́тай (sogljadátaj) (akin to гляде́ть (gljadétʹ)).
Inflected forms:
form: spies
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: spies
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: spying
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: spied
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: spied
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A person who secretly watches and examines the actions of other individuals or organizations and gathers information on them (usually to gain an advantage).
pos: noun
examples: The dead leap at the throat, destroy
The meaning of the day; dark forms
Have scaled your walls, and spies betray
Old secrets to amorphous swarms.
Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.
gloss: A defensive player assigned to cover an offensive backfield player man-to-man when they are expected to engage in a running play, but the offensive player does not run with the ball immediately.
pos: noun
gloss: To act as a spy.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: During the Cold War, Russia and America would each spy on each other for recon.
gloss: To spot; to catch sight of; to espy.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I think I can spy that hot guy coming over here.
VVherefore lift up your heads, brethren, and look about vvith your eyes, ſpy vvhat things are to be reformed in the Church of England.
One in reading, skipped over all sentences where he spied a note of admiration.
Child, I see thee! Child, I spy thee!
The next person they spied was a Bandicoot carrying a watermelon.
gloss: To search narrowly; to scrutinize.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: (As I confeſſe it is my Natures plague / To ſpy into Abuſes, and of my iealouſie / Shapes faults that are not)
gloss: To explore; to see; to view; inspect and examine secretly, as a country.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
Synonyms: espial
espy
ghost
intelligencer
secret agent
spook
spy
undie
Related words: spyglass
spyware
Derived words: antispy
bespy
co-spy
cyberspy
Eurospy
spyboat
spybot
spycam
spycatcher
spycatching
spy cop
spycore
spycraft
spydom
spy dust
spyess
spy-fi
Spygate
spyhole
spy-hop
spy-hopping
spyism
spyless
spylike
spymaster
spymistress
spy money
spyplane
spyproof
spy ring
spy satellite
spyship
spywork
superspy
counterspy
hi-spy-hi
I spy
I spy with my little eye
outspy
spier
spyhop
spy on
spy out
unspied
Translations: