Noun: espy
| Singular | espy |
| Plural | espies |
Sample Sentences
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Howe the right and lawes of the land / Were execute, and who durſt take in hand / To diſobey his ſtatutes and decrees, / If they were well kept in all countrees: / Of theſe he made ſubtile inueſtigation / Of his owne eſpie, and other mens relation. [1599, Richard Hakluyt, “After the Chapitles of Commodities of Diuers Lands, Sheweth the Conclusion of Keeping of the Sea Enuiron, by a Storie of King Edgar, and Two Incidents of King Edward the Third, and King Henrie the Fifth”, in The Principal Nauigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation, […], 2nd edition, London: […] George Bishop, Ralph Newberie, and Robert Barker, →OCLC, page 203:]
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When as the Eagle, Ioves great bird, did ſee her enemy, / Sharpe warre in th' ayre with beake ſhe did prepare / Gainſt Serpent feeding in the wood, after eſpy / Cauſe it her egges and young fiercely in peeces tare. [1608, Edward Topsell, “Of the Winged Dragon”, in The Historie of Serpents. Or, The Second Booke of Liuing Creatures: […], London: […] William Jaggard, →OCLC, page 168:]
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Hobomak as confidently aſſured vs it was falſe, and ſent his vvife as an eſpy to ſee; […] [1624, Iohn [i.e., John] Smith, “Here Followeth a Briefe Discourse of the Trials of New England, with Certaine Obseruations of the Hollanders Use and Gaine by Fishing, and the Present Estate of that Happy Plantation, Begun but by Sixtie Weake Men, in the Yeere of Our Lord 1620. and How to Build a Fleet of Good Ships to Make a Little Nauy Royall, by the Former Author”, in The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, →OCLC, 6th booke, page 235:]
Nouns inflected like espy
clitoridectomy,
royal jelly,
whoopsy,
surrogacy,
urinary,
rastrography,
renoscopy,
sourtop blueberry,
forcible entry,
superficiary,
lipidosity,
potability,
phonography,
hyperproperty,
greenery,
conjugality,
ring singularity,
Brittany,
ignobility,
obscurity, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
1. From Middle English aspie, espie (“covert investigation or observation, scouting, spying; information obtained through spying; secret and treacherous plan, plot; treachery; a scout or spy”) [and other forms],
2. from Anglo-Norman espie, Old French espie, from espier (verb): see further at etymology 1.
3. Cognates
4. * Italian spia
5. * Spanish espia See: Middle English Nouns '
aspie', Italian Nouns '
spia', Spanish Nouns '
espia'.