spy

Meanings

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).

Verb

• To act as a spy.
• To spot; to catch sight of.
• To search narrowly; to scrutinize.
• To explore; to see; to view; inspect and examine secretly, as a country.

Related

Similar words

• intelligencer

Origin

• From Middle English spien, aphetic variant of earlier espien, 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 , which was also the word for "mirror." In this sense, the verb displaced , which was also the word for "to watch" and became the Modern English word show.