spy
Audio Help [spahy] Pronunciation Key, noun, plural spies, verb, spied, spy·ing.
—Related forms
Audio Help [spahy] Pronunciation Key, noun, plural spies, verb, spied, spy·ing. –noun
–verb (used without object)
–verb (used with object)
| 1. | a person employed by a government to obtain secret information or intelligence about another, usually hostile, country, esp. with reference to military or naval affairs. |
| 2. | a person who keeps close and secret watch on the actions and words of another or others. |
| 3. | a person who seeks to obtain confidential information about the activities, plans, methods, etc., of an organization or person, esp. one who is employed for this purpose by a competitor: an industrial spy. |
| 4. | the act of spying. |
| 5. | to observe secretively or furtively with hostile intent (often fol. by on or upon). |
| 6. | to act as a spy; engage in espionage. |
| 7. | to be on the lookout; keep watch. |
| 8. | to search for or examine something closely or carefully. |
| 9. | to catch sight of suddenly; espy; descry: to spy a rare bird overhead. |
| 10. | to discover or find out by observation or scrutiny (often fol. by out). |
| 11. | to observe (a person, place, enemy, etc.) secretively or furtively with hostile intent. |
| 12. | to inspect or examine or to search or look for closely or carefully. |
[Origin: 1200–50; (v.) ME spien, aph. var. of espien to espy; (n.) ME, aph. var. of espy a spy < OF espie
]
] —Related forms
spyship, noun
| Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
Spied
To learn more about Spied visit Britannica.com
| © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |
| spied
Audio Help (spīd) Pronunciation Key
v. Past tense and past participle of spy. |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
| spy
Audio Help (spī) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. spies (spīz)
v. spied (spīd), spy·ing, spies (spīz) v. tr.
v. intr.
[Middle English spie, from Old French espie, from espier, to watch, of Germanic origin; see spek- in Indo-European roots.] |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
Spied
Spied\, imp. & p. p. of Spy.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
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