spy

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A person who secretly watches and examines the actions of other individuals or organizations and gathers information on them (usually to gain an advantage).

   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.

2. 2
   verb

   To act as a spy.

   During the Cold War, Russia and America would each spy on each other for recon.

3. 3
   verb

   To spot; to catch sight of; to espy.

   I think I can spy that hot guy coming over here.

4. 4
   verb

   To search narrowly; to scrutinize.

   (As I confeſſe it is my Natures plague / To ſpy into Abuſes, and of my iealouſie / Shapes faults that are not)

5. 5
   noun

   (military) a secret agent hired by a state to obtain information about its enemies or by a business to obtain industrial secrets from competitors

6. 6
   noun

   a secret watcher

7. 7
   verb

   secretly collect sensitive or classified information

8. 8
   verb

   watch, observe, or inquire secretly

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…