spy
Forms
- Plural
- spies
- present (v1)
- spy
- past (v2)
- spied
- past participle (v3)
- spied
- present participle
- spying
- 3rd person singular
- spies
Definitions
1.A person who secretly watches and examines the actions of other individuals or organizations and gathers information on them (usually to gain an advantage).
2.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.
1.To spot; to catch sight of; to espy.
- I think I can spy that hot guy coming over here.
- The next person they spied was a Bandicoot carrying a watermelon.
- One in reading, skipped over all sentences where he spied a note of admiration.
2.To search narrowly; to scrutinize.
3.To explore; to see; to view; inspect and examine secretly, as a country.
4.To act as a spy.
- During the Cold War, Russia and America would each spy on each other for recon.
Frequency
Overall
Rare· #4617
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
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”).