different between espy vs out

English

Etymology

From Old French espier (French épier). More at spy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??spa?/
• Rhymes: -a?

Verb

espy (third-person singular simple present espies, present participle espying, simple past and past participle espied)

1. (transitive) To catch sight of; to see; to spot (said especially of something not easy to see)
   • 1880, Charu Chandra Mookerjee translating Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Durgesa Nandini

     Bimala looked at the direction in silence. Deep and hard breathings entered her ear, and she espied something near the road.

   • 1893, Horatio Alger, Cast Upon the Breakers Chapter 2

     "Ha!" said John, espying the open casket, "where did you get all that jewelry?"

   • 2011, May 1, Alice Rawsthron, The New York Times, Skull and Crossbones as Branding Tool

     By the turn of the 18th century, when Captain Cranby espied Wynn's skull and crossbones, the piracy trade was flourishing and ambitious pirates were becoming increasingly sophisticated in the way they operated.

2. (transitive) To examine and keep watch upon; to watch; to observe.
   • 1651, Jeremy Taylor, Twenty-sermons for the winter half-year, "The Entail of Curses cut off"

     God is “inquisitive;” he looks for that which he fain would never find; God sets spies upon us; he looks upon us himself through the curtains of a cloud, and he sends angels to espy us in all our ways

3. (intransitive) To look or search narrowly; to look about; to watch; to take notice; to spy.
   • 1611, King James Bible, Jeremiah 48:19

     O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy; ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth, and say, What is done?

Synonyms

See Thesaurus:spot

Translations

Anagrams

• Pyes, Spey, pyes, spye, yeps

English

Alternative forms

• oute (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English out, oute, from a combination of Old English ?t (“out”, preposition & adverb), from Proto-Germanic *?t (“out”); and Old English ?te (“outside; without”, adverb), from Proto-Germanic *?tai (“out; outside”); both from Proto-Indo-European *úd (“upwards, away”).

Cognate with Scots oot, out (“out”), Saterland Frisian uut, uute (“out”), West Frisian út (“out”), Dutch uit (“out”), German Low German ut (“out”), German aus (“out”), Norwegian/Swedish ut, ute (“out; outside”), Danish ud, ude (“out; outside”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: out, IPA^(key): /a?t/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /æ?t/, /æ?t/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /??t/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /??t/
• Rhymes: -a?t

Adverb

out (not comparable)

1. Away from the inside, centre or other point of reference.

   The magician tapped the hat, and a rabbit jumped out.

   Once they had landed, the commandos quickly spread out along the beach.

   For six hours the tide flows out, then for six hours it flows in.

2. Away from home or one's usual place.

   Let's eat out tonight

3. Outside; not indoors.

   Last night we slept out under the stars.

4. Away from; at a distance.

   Keep out!

5. Into a state of non-operation or non-existence.

   Turn the lights out.

   Put the fire out.

   I painted out that nasty mark on the wall.

6. To the end; completely.

   I haven't finished. Hear me out.

   • Deceitful men shall not live out half their days.

7. Used to intensify or emphasize.

   The place was all decked out for the holidays.

8. (of the sun, moon, stars, etc.) So as to be visible in the sky, and not covered by clouds, fog, etc.

   The sun came out after the rain, and we saw a rainbow.

9. (cricket, baseball) Of a player, so as to be disqualified from playing further by some action of a member of the opposing team (such as being stumped in cricket).

   Wilson was bowled out for five runs.

See also

There are numerous individual phrasal verbs, such as come out, go out, pull out, put out, take out, and so on.

Synonyms

• (not at home): away

Antonyms

• (not at home): in

Derived terms

• move out
• thought-out
• out-of-bounds

Related terms

Translations

Preposition

out

1. From from the inside to the outside of; out of. [from 14th c.]
   • c. 1608, William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, V.2:

     Can you, when you have pushed out your gates the very defender of them, and in a violent popular ignorance given your enemy your shield, think to front his revenges with the easy groans of old women, the virginal palms of your daughters, or with the palsied intercession of such a decayed dotant as you seem to be?

   • 1830, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Adeline":

     Thy roselips and full blue eyes / Take the heart from out my breast.

   • 2012, Thomas Gifford, Woman in the Window:

     After she'd made her single cup of coffee she sat looking out the window into the slushy, halficy backyard and dialed Tony's number on Staten Island.

Usage notes

• The use of out as a preposition, as in look out the window, is standard in American, Australian, and New Zealand English, and is common in speech and informal contexts in Britain, but is not standard British English.

Synonyms

• (away from the inside): through

Antonyms

• (away from the inside): in

Translations

Noun

out (plural outs)

1. A means of exit, escape, reprieve, etc.

   They wrote the law to give those organizations an out.

3. (baseball) A state in which a member of the batting team is removed from play due to the application of various rules of the game such as striking out, hitting a fly ball which is caught by the fielding team before bouncing, etc.
4. (cricket) A dismissal; a state in which a member of the batting team finishes his turn at bat, due to the application of various rules of the game, such as the bowler knocking over the batsman's wicket with the ball.
5. (poker) A card which can make a hand a winner.
   • 2005, Alison M. Pendergast, Play Winning Poker in No Time (page 57)

     As a beginner, when you are in a hand, you should practice counting your outs, or those live cards left in the deck that can improve your hand.

   • 2006, David Apostolico, Lessons from the Professional Poker Tour (page 21)

     If he did have a bigger ace, I still had at least six outs — the case ace, two nines, and three tens. I could also have more outs if he held anything less than A-K.

6. (dated) A trip out; an outing.
   • 1852-53, Charles Dickens, Bleak House

     Us London lawyers don't often get an out; and when we do, we like to make the most of it, you know.

7. (chiefly in the plural) One who, or that which, is out; especially, one who is out of office.

   Antonym: in

   • 1827, Benjamin Chew, A Sketch of the Politics, Relations, and Statistics, of the Western World (page 192)

     This memoir has nothing to do with the question between the ins and the outs; it is intended neither to support nor to assail the administration; it is general in its views upon a general and national subject; […]

8. A place or space outside of something; a nook or corner; an angle projecting outward; an open space.
9. (printing, dated) A word or words omitted by the compositor in setting up copy; an omission.

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ??? (auto)
• ? Korean: ?? (aut)

Translations

Verb

out (third-person singular simple present outs, present participle outing, simple past and past participle outed)

1. (transitive) To eject; to expel.
   • 1689, John Selden, Table Talk

     a king outed of his country

   • 1674, Peter Heylin, Cosmographie in four bookes

     The French have been outed from their holds.
2. (intransitive) To come or go out; to get out or away; to become public, revealed, or apparent.
3. (transitive) To reveal (a person or organization) as having a certain secret, such as a being a secret agent or undercover detective.
   • 2009 March 16, Maurna Desmond, "AIG Outs Counterparties" (online news article), Forbes.com.
4. (transitive) To reveal (a secret).

   A Brazilian company outed the new mobile phone design.

5. (transitive, LGBT) To reveal (a person) as LGBT+ (gay, trans, etc).
   • 2015, Juliet Jacques, Trans: A Memoir, Verso Books (?ISBN):

     Trans Media Watch had recently spoken at the Leveson Inquiry about how the Sun and the Daily Mail routinely outed trans people, publishing old names and photos, for no reason other than because they could.

   • 2016, Molly Booth, Saving Hamlet, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (?ISBN):

     The Parkses were strict and narrowminded, and not knowing what to do with their recently outed bisexual teenage daughter, their obvious solution was to cut her off from her friends and keep her from leaving the house.

   • 2020, Jos Twist, Meg-John Barker, Kat Gupta, Benjamin Vincent, Non-Binary Lives: An Anthology of Intersecting Identities, Jessica Kingsley Publishers (?ISBN), page 116:

     As of 2018, I chair the workforce committee and lead on diversity and inclusion, including heading up a policy review on gender identity and trans inclusion, although that led me to be publicly outed as non-binary in the Sunday Times.

6. To kill; to snuff out.

Synonyms

• (reveal a secret): See also Thesaurus:divulge

Translations

Adjective

out (not comparable)

1. Not at home; not at one's office or place of employment.

   I'm sorry, Mr Smith is out at the moment.

2. Not inside or within something.

   I worked away cleaning the U-bend until all the gunge was out.

3. Freed from confinement or secrecy.

4. Not fitted or inserted into something.

   The TV won't work with the plug out!

5. (sports) Of the ball or other playing implement, falling or passing outside the bounds of the playing area.

   I thought the ball hit the line, but the umpire said it was out.

6. Released, available for purchase, download or other use.
7. (in various games; used especially of a batsman or batter in cricket or baseball) Dismissed from play under the rules of the game.

   He bowls, Johnson pokes at it ... and ... Johnson is out! Caught behind by Ponsonby!

8. (LGBT) Openly acknowledging that one is LGBT+ (gay, trans, etc).
   • 2011, Allan Bérubé, My Desire for History: Essays in Gay, Community, and Labor History:

     I had not come out yet and he was out but wasn't; quite ungay, I would say, and yet gay.

   • 2018, Matthew Waites, Supporting Young Transgender Men: A Guide for Professionals, Jessica Kingsley Publishers (?ISBN), page 40:

     However, for a transgender man, while living stealth can be a feasible option for some, key people will need to know […] Not everyone has to be out, loud and proud or march down the streets holding trans flags […]

9. (by extension, uncommon) Open, public; public about or openly acknowledging some (usually specified) identity.
   • 2014, Arlene Stein, Reluctant Witnesses: Survivors, Their Children, and the Rise of Holocaust Consciousness, Oxford University Press (?ISBN):

     She was “out” as a survivor for the first time in her life. “I had friends who had known me many, many years who are totally astounded, shocked,” she said. “They could not believe that I was a Holocaust survivor. [...]”

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:out.
10. (of flowers) In bloom.

    The garden looks beautiful now that the roses are out.

11. (of the sun, moon or stars) Visible in the sky; not obscured by clouds.

    The sun is out, and it's a lovely day.

12. (of lamps, fires etc.) Not shining or burning.

    I called round to the house but all the lights were out and no one was home.

13. (of ideas, plans, etc.) Discarded; no longer a possibility.

    Right, so that idea's out. Let's move on to the next one.

14. (of certain services, devices, or facilities) Not available; out of service.

    Power is out in the entire city.

    My wi-fi is out.

15. (of a user of a service) Not having availability of a service, as power or communications.

    Most of the city got service back yesterday, but my neighborhood is still out.

16. (of an organization, etc.) Temporarily not in operation, or not being attended as usual.

    when school gets out for today, when college is out for the summer

17. Of the tide, at or near its lowest level.

    You can walk to the island when the tide's out.

18. No longer popular or in fashion.

    Black is out this season. The new black is white.

19. Without; no longer in possession of; not having more

    Do you have any bread? Sorry, we're out.

20. (of calculations or measurements) Containing errors or discrepancies; in error by a stated amount.

    Nothing adds up in this report. All these figures are out.

    The measurement was out by three millimetres.

21. (obsolete) Of a young lady: having entered society and available to be courted.

Usage notes

• In cricket, the specific cause or rule under which a batsman is out appears after the word “out”, e.g., “out hit the ball twice”.
• In baseball, the cause is expressed as a verb with adverbial “out”, e.g., “he grounded out”.

Synonyms

• (no longer popular): démodé, passé, unchic; see also Thesaurus:unfashionable

Antonyms

• (disqualified from playing): in, safe
• (openly acknowledging that one is LGBT+): closeted

Hyponyms

• (openly acknowledging that one is LGBT+): openly gay, etc.

Translations

Interjection

out

1. (procedure word, especially military) A radio procedure word meaning that the station is finished with its transmission and does not expect a response.

   Destruction. Two T-72s destroyed. Three foot mobiles down. Out.
2. Get out; begone; away!
   • 1606, William Shakespeare, Macbeth

     Out, damned spot! Out, I say!

Coordinate terms

• over

Derived terms

• over and out

Derived terms

See also Category:English phrasal verbs with particle (out)

Related terms

• outen

References

• Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "Bounded landmarks", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition, Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8
• out at OneLook Dictionary Search

Breton

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ut/

Verb

out

1. second-person singular present indicative of bezañ

Bukiyip

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?wut?]

Noun

out

1. rat

References

• 2007. The UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Department of Linguistics.

Chinese

Alternative forms

• OUT

Etymology

Borrowed from English out.

Verb

out

1. (slang) to be outdated

German

Etymology

Borrowed from English out. Doublet of aus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a??t/, [?a??t?]
• Rhymes: -a??t

Adjective

out (not comparable)

1. (colloquial) out of fashion

Declension

Synonyms

• altmodisch, unmodern

Antonyms

• angesagt
• in (colloquial)

Further reading

• “out” in Duden online
• “out” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “out” in PONS (pons.com)
  “out” in PONS (pons.com)

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French août (“August”)

Noun

out

1. August

Mauritian Creole

Etymology

From French août

Noun

out

1. August

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch ald, from Proto-West Germanic *ald, from Proto-Germanic *aldaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /out/

Adjective

out (comparative ouder, superlative outst)

1. old

   Antonym: jonc

Inflection

Derived terms

• ouden

Descendants

• Dutch: oud
  • Afrikaans: oud
• Limburgish: aad

Further reading

• “out”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929) , “out (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, ?ISBN, page I

Spanish

Noun

out m (plural outs)

1. (baseball) out