different between spotting vs probe

English

Verb

spotting

1. present participle of spot

Noun

spotting (plural spottings)

1. A spotted pattern.
   • 1954, Thomas H. Everett, The American Gardener's Book of Bulbs (page 161)

     Symptoms consist of various foliage spottings and blotchings.

2. The act of spotting or sighting something.
   • 2009, Marine Corps (US), Close Air Support and the Battle for Khe Sanh (page 100)

     Although the NVA went to great lengths to conceal the locations of their artillery, they had to expose them at the time of firing. Less reliable than visual spottings were electronic intercepts […]

Derived terms

• aircraft spotting
• bus spotting
• trainspotting

Anagrams

• pottings

English

Etymology

For verb: borrowed from Latin probare (“to test, examine, prove”), from probus (“good”).

For noun: borrowed from Late Latin proba (“a proof”), from probare (“to test, examine, prove”); Doublet of proof. Compare Spanish tienta (“a surgeon's probe”), from tentar (“try, test”); see tempt.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /p???b/
• (US) IPA^(key): /p?o?b/
• Rhymes: -??b

Noun

probe (plural probes)

1. (surgery) Any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc. [from 15th c.]
2. (figuratively) Something which penetrates something else, as though to explore; something which obtains information. [from 17th c.]
3. An act of probing; a prod, a poke. [from 19th c.]
4. (figuratively) An investigation or inquiry. [from 20th c.]

   They launched a probe into the cause of the accident.

5. (aeronautics) A tube attached to an aircraft which can be fitted into the drogue from a tanker aircraft to allow for aerial refuelling. [from 20th c.]
6. (sciences) A small device, especially an electrode, used to explore, investigate or measure something by penetrating or being placed in it. [from 20th c.]

   Insert the probe into the soil and read the temperature.

7. (astronautics) A small, usually unmanned, spacecraft used to acquire information or measurements about its surroundings. [from 20th c.]
8. (game of Go) a move with multiple answers seeking to make the opponent choose and commit to a strategy
9. (biochemistry) Any group of atoms or molecules radioactively labeled in order to study a given molecule or other structure

Synonyms

• (game of go) yosu-miru

Derived terms

• probe-and-drogue

Translations

Verb

probe (third-person singular simple present probes, present participle probing, simple past and past participle probed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To explore, investigate, or question

   If you probe further, you may discover different reasons.

   • 1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England

     the growing disposition to probe the legality of all acts of the crown

2. (transitive) To insert a probe into.

Related terms

• probable
• prove
• proof
• probity
• probation

Translations

Further reading

• probe in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• probe in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Pober, rebop

German

Pronunciation

Verb

probe

1. inflection of proben:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. first/third-person singular subjunctive I
   3. singular imperative

Italian

Adjective

probe

1. feminine plural of probo

Latin

Adverb

prob? (comparative probius, superlative probissim?)

1. well, rightly, properly, correctly, fitly, opportunely, excellently

Adjective

probe

1. vocative masculine singular of probus

References

• probe in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• probe in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• probe in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Spanish

Adjective

probe (plural probes)

1. Obsolete spelling of pobre