different between descry vs spy

English

Etymology

From Middle English descrien, descryen, from Old French descrier (“to proclaim, announce, cry”), from des- + crier (“shout, cry”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??sk?a?/
• Rhymes: -a?

Verb

descry (third-person singular simple present descries, present participle descrying, simple past and past participle descried) (literary)

1. (transitive) To see.
2. (transitive) To discover (a distant or obscure object) by the eye; to espy; to discern or detect.
   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act IV, Scene 5,^[2]

     Edmund, I think, is gone,

     In pity of his misery, to dispatch

     His nighted life; moreover to descry

     The strength o’ th’ enemy.

   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 10, lines 325-326,^[3]

     And now thir way to Earth they had descri’d,

     To Paradise first tending, […]

   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, London: W. Taylor, 3rd edition, p. 127,^[4]

     When I had pass’d the Vale where my Bower stood as above, I came within View of the Sea, to the West, and it being a very clear Day, I fairly descry’d Land—whether an Island or a Continent, I could not tell; but it lay very high, extending from the West to the W.S.W. at a very great Distance;

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity, New York: Macmillan, Chapter 4, p. 47,^[5]

     Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days’ cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.

3. (transitive) To discover: to disclose; to reveal.
   • 1670, John Milton, The History of Britain, London: James Allestry, Book 2, p. 87,^[6]

     His Body was found almost naked in the field, for his Purple Robe he had thrown aside, lest it should descry him, unwilling to be found.

Translations

Further reading

• descry in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• descry in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• descry at OneLook Dictionary Search
• “descry”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Anagrams

• cyders

English

Etymology

From Middle English spien, aphetic variant of earlier espien (“to espy”), from Old French espier (“to spy”), from Frankish *speh?n (“to spy”), from Proto-Germanic *speh?n? (“to see, look”), from Proto-Indo-European *spe?- (“to look”). Akin to German spähen (“to spy”), Dutch spieden (“to spy”).

The noun displaced native Old English s??awere (literally “watcher”), which was also the word for "mirror." In this sense, the verb displaced Old English s??awian, which was also the word for "to watch" and became the Modern English word show.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spa?/
• Rhymes: -a?

Noun

spy (plural spies)

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).

Synonyms

• intelligencer
• Thesaurus:spy

Translations

Derived terms

• spyess (a female spy)
• spy ring

Verb

spy (third-person singular simple present spies, present participle spying, simple past and past participle spied)

1. (intransitive) To act as a spy.

2. (transitive) To spot; to catch sight of.
   • 1720, Jonathan Swift, A Letter to a Young Clergyman

     One in reading, skipped over all sentences where he spied a note of admiration.
3. (intransitive) To search narrowly; to scrutinize.
4. (transitive) To explore; to see; to view; inspect and examine secretly, as a country.

Translations

Derived terms

• spy on
• spyhop

Related terms

• spyglass
• spyware

See also

• Wikipedia article on spies

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ??? (supai)
• ? Korean: ??? (seupai)

Anagrams

• PYs, SYP, YPs, pys

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse spýja, from Proto-Germanic *sp?wan?, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pty?w- (“to spit, vomit”). Compare Swedish and Danish spy, Icelandic spýja, English spew, Dutch spuwen, German speien.

Noun

spy n (definite singular spyet) (uncountable)

1. barf (US), vomit, spew

Verb

spy (present tense spyr, simple past spydde, past participle spydd)

1. to barf (US), throw up, vomit, spew (also figurative)

Synonyms

• kaste opp

References

• “spy” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse spýja. The noun is derived from the verb.

Verb

spy (present tense spyr, past tense spydde, past participle spydd/spytt, passive infinitive spyast, present participle spyande, imperative spy)

1. (transitive, intransitive) to vomit
2. (intransitive, about blowflies) to lay eggs

Derived terms

Noun

spy n (definite singular spyet, uncountable)

1. vomit, sick
2. (collective) eggs of a blowfly

References

• “spy” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• syp

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse spýja, from Proto-Germanic *sp?wan?, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pty?w- (“to spit, vomit”). Compare Norwegian and Danish spy, Icelandic spýja, English spew, Dutch spuwen, German speien.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spy?/

Verb

spy (present spyr, preterite spydde, supine spytt, imperative spy)

1. to throw up, to vomit

Conjugation

Quotations

Synonyms

• kräkas

Related terms

• spya
• spyboll

Anagrams

• pys