espy
/əˈspaɪ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.32 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
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.
Transitive verb
verb
To observe (someone or something) as a spy; also, to examine or observe (someone or something) carefully; or to look out or watch for.
Obsolete; Transitive verb
verb
To observe as a spy, to spy; also, to examine or observe carefully; or to look out or watch.
Archaic; Intransitive verb
noun
An act of finding out or observing by spying or looking; an espial or espying.
Countable; Obsolete; Uncountable
noun
The act or process of learning secret information through clandestine means; espionage.
Obsolete; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "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: […]"
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
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /əˈspaɪ/
- British English: /ɪˈspaɪ/
Usage
Inflected Forms
espies (present, singular)
espying (participle, present)
espied (participle, past)
espied (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
espied (first person, past)
espiest (archaic, present)
espyest (archaic, present)
espied (past, second person)
espieth (archaic, present)
espyeth (archaic, present)