different between glance vs spy

English

Alternative forms

• glaunce (obsolete)

Etymology

From a conflation of Middle English glacen (“to graze, strike a glancing blow”) and Middle English glenten (“to look askance”). Middle English glacen came from Old French glacier (“to slip, make slippery”), which was a derivative of glace (“ice”). Middle English glenten was derived from Old Norse *glenta (“to shine; look”), which ultimately comes from Proto-Germanic *glintan? (“to shine; look”). Middle English glenten is also the source of glint.

The form of the modern word takes largely after its Latinate parent, save for the medial -n-. On the other hand, the most common sense in modern usage, "to look briefly (at something)", comes from its Germanic parent. The sense "to sparkle" does as well. Most other senses derive from Middle English glacen.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?l??ns/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?læns/
• Rhymes: -??ns, -æns

Verb

glance (third-person singular simple present glances, present participle glancing, simple past and past participle glanced)

1. (intransitive) To look briefly (at something).

   She glanced at her reflection as she passed the mirror.
2. (intransitive) To graze at a surface.
3. To sparkle.

   The spring sunlight was glancing on the water of the pond.

   • From art, from nature, from the schools, / Let random influences glance, / Like light in many a shivered lance, / That breaks about the dappled pools.

4. (intransitive) To move quickly, appearing and disappearing rapidly; to be visible only for an instant at a time; to move interruptedly; to twinkle.
5. (intransitive) To strike and fly off in an oblique direction; to dart aside.
   • 1833, Mary Shelley, The Mortal Immortal

     I started — I dropped the glass — the fluid flamed and glanced along the floor, while I felt Cornelius's gripe at my throat, as he shrieked aloud, "Wretch! you have destroyed the labour of my life!"

6. (soccer) To hit lightly with the head, make a deft header.
7. To make an incidental or passing reflection; to allude; to hint; often with at.
   • c. 1703-1720, Jonathan Swift, An Essay on the Fates of Clergymen

     He glanced at a certain reverend doctor.

8. (ichthyology) A type of interaction between parent fish and offspring in which juveniles swim toward and rapidly touch the sides of the parent, in most cases feeding on parental mucus. Relatively few species glance, mainly some Cichlidae.

Synonyms

• (To see something briefly): see

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

glance (countable and uncountable, plural glances)

1. A brief or cursory look.
2. A deflection.
3. (cricket) A stroke in which the ball is deflected to one side.
4. A sudden flash of light or splendour.
5. An incidental or passing thought or allusion.
   • c. 1782, William Cowper, The Solitude of Alexander Selkirk

     How fleet is a glance of the mind.

6. (mineralogy) Any of various sulphides, mostly dark-coloured, which have a brilliant metallic lustre.

7. (mineralogy) Glance coal.

Derived terms

Translations

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