Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To catch sight of (something that is distant, partially hidden, or obscure); glimpse. synonym: see.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To see at a distance; catch sight of or discover at a distance.
- To see or discover suddenly, after some effort, or unexpectedly, as by accident: with reference to some person or thing in a degree concealed or intended to be hidden: as, to
espy a man in a crowd. - To inspect narrowly; explore and examine; observe and keep watch upon; spy.
- Synonyms To discern, descry, perceive, catch sight of.
- To look narrowly; keep watch; spy.
- noun A spy; scout; watch.
- noun Espial; espionage.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete A spy; a scout.
- intransitive verb To look or search narrowly; to look about; to watch; to take notice; to spy.
- transitive verb To catch sight of; to perceive with the eyes; to discover, as a distant object partly concealed, or not obvious to notice; to see at a glance; to discern unexpectedly; to spy
- transitive verb To inspect narrowly; to examine and keep watch upon; to watch; to observe.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To catch
sight of; toperceive with the eyes; todiscover , as a distant object partly concealed, or not obvious to notice; to see at a glance; to discern unexpectedly; to spy; as, to espy land; to espy a man in a crowd. - verb To
inspect narrowly; to examine and keep watch upon; to watch; to observe. - verb To
look orsearch narrowly; to look about; to watch; to take notice; to spy.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb catch sight of
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Supposing Blair is correct, and parents do espy special, precious things that childless adults never can, it would still be reassuring to know that these are not outweighed by the associated burdens of exhaustion, continual interruption and prime ministerial anxiety about how to blag a first-class education without going private.
Surely Dave and Nick have got better things to do? | Catherine Bennett 2011
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"And just occasionally, you espy the essential strength that the family represents and realise it is a marvel of human achievement."
Surely Dave and Nick have got better things to do? | Catherine Bennett 2011
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Whereupon I espy this Italian place I've never tried before.
Takin' a Break Christopher Snyder 2011
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Gadget, Dear Fellow, mine eye did espy that a new author would be blogging soon.
Blog Today, Gone Tomorrow! « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2010
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It's a pretty good story, and trying to espy its "interstitial" qualities adds nothing to its appeal.
Experimental Fiction 2010
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Some elements of the gold market, the rabid goldbugs, do espy a very dark and broken future.
Gold Shines in the Big Selloff Dave Kansas 2011
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The JWST, which unlike Hubble can make images in the infrared, could espy this initial burgeoning of stars and their homes -- the earliest galaxies.
Seth Shostak: American Space Research: An Also-Ran? Seth Shostak 2011
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The JWST, which unlike Hubble can make images in the infrared, could espy this initial burgeoning of stars and their homes -- the earliest galaxies.
Seth Shostak: American Space Research: An Also-Ran? Seth Shostak 2011
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The JWST, which unlike Hubble can make images in the infrared, could espy this initial burgeoning of stars and their homes -- the earliest galaxies.
Seth Shostak: American Space Research: An Also-Ran? Seth Shostak 2011
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Driving from Brooklyn to Oregon next week; What weird should I espy?
Boing Boing 2009
bilby commented on the word espy
"I have come to look at the world's map anew, espying not so much the art galleries or mountain ranges or rivers as places where cherished friends have taken up residence and would, perhaps, enjoy showing an old buddy the ins and outs, the meandering back road rather than the superhighway."
- Alan Cowell, 'When a Host Becomes a Guest', New York Times, 29 Dec 2002.
June 3, 2009
madmouth commented on the word espy
hard to get out of my head a thick Spanish accent on 'spy'. "Estop espyin on me!"
*shame*
June 3, 2009
yarb commented on the word espy
Is something missing from that sentence? And why does Cowell use espy here when what he means is view or see?
Signed, Ombudsman for Citational Pedantry.
June 3, 2009
qroqqa commented on the word espy
*boggles, rereads* Aha. If you used 'seeing' instead, it would mean "not seeing galleries as places where . . . but rather seeing them as some other kind of place". Wrong 'as', however. It actually means "seeing galleries not so much as places where X happens . . . but as places where Y happens". The sentence is missing a comma after 'rivers'. (The comparative 'not so much', which governs the following 'as', is in a stylistically unusual, unexpected place.)
With 'espy', you can't espy something as something (= "in the light/form of", so the construction can only be the 'not so much . . . as' one.
June 3, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word espy
All I know is, when yarb's in a self-described pissy mood, he coins a bunch of really cool phrases, like Ombudsman for Citational Pedantry, or ruddy with booze and bonhomie.
Edit: or lump of textual gristle.
June 3, 2009
yarb commented on the word espy
Thanks qroqqa, for scalpelling through that lump of textual gristle with your usual precision. Have you considered a career as an editor?
June 3, 2009
qroqqa commented on the word espy
Don't even joke about that.
June 3, 2009
reesetee commented on the word espy
Odd. I know a comma should be there, but at first read I had no trouble with it.
Signed, A Beleaguered Editor
June 4, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word espy
... or perhaps a surgeon?
June 4, 2009
mollusque commented on the word espy
Where's Willard?
June 4, 2009
rolig commented on the word espy
It is a bit of textual gristle, but I had no problem understanding it. A comma might help, as Q. suggests, but I don't think it's necessary. "Espy" is pretentious-cute here, I think. I'd rewrite it this way: "not so much seeing the art galleries or mountain ranges or rivers as seeing the places where cherished friends…" "Espying" could also be replaced by "noticing", which would probably have cleared up any confusion in the first place.
*has to stop self from editing things that no one has asked or is willing to pay to be edited*
June 4, 2009
reesetee commented on the word espy
Occupational hazard.
June 4, 2009
bilby commented on the word espy
Yeah, I probably go for espying being a pretentious ass usage here.
June 4, 2009
shanvrolijk commented on the word espy
Like Aragorn, I look left, right, east, west, something, and at just the opportune moment, I espy fireworks, orange, fuschia, and dazzlingly green; I am momentarily light.
January 22, 2018