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   spy

   /spʌɪ/

   noun

   • 1. a person employed by a government or other organization to secretly obtain information on an enemy or competitor.
   • ▪ a person who keeps watch on others secretly: "a spy camera"

   verb

   • 1. work for a government or other organization by secretly obtaining information about enemies or competitors: "he agreed to spy for the West" Similar be a spybe engaged in spyinggather intelligencework for the secret serviceinformal:snoop
   • ▪ observe (someone) furtively: "the couple were spied on by reporters" Similar observe furtivelykeep under surveillancewatchkeep a watch onkeep an eye onkeep under observationfollowshadowtrailinformal:tailrare:surveil
   • ▪ collect information about something to use in deciding how to act: "he would go and spy out the land"
   • 2. discern or make out, especially by careful observation: "he could spy a figure in the distance" Similar noticeobserveseespotsightcatch sight ofglimpsecatch/get a glimpse ofmake outdiscernpick outdetecthave sight ofinformal:clap/lay/set eyes onliterary:espybeholddescry

   Word Origin Middle English: shortening of Old French espie ‘espying’, espier ‘espy’, of Germanic origin, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin specere ‘behold, look’.

   Derivatives

   • 1. spying noun

   Scrabble Points: 8

   • S

     1

   • P

     3

   • Y

     4

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