26 April 2015
spy
[spahy]
noun, plural spies.
1. a person employed by a government to obtain secret information or intelligence about another, usually hostile, country, especially with reference to military or naval affairs.
2. a person who keeps close and secret watch on the actions and words of another or others.
3. a person who seeks to obtain confidential information about the activities, plans, methods, etc., of an organization or person, especially one who is employed for this purpose by a competitor:
an industrial spy.
4. the act of spying.
verb (used without object), spied, spying.
5. to observe secretively or furtively with hostile intent (often followed by on or upon).
6. to act as a spy; engage in espionage.
7. to be on the lookout; keep watch.
8. to search for or examine something closely or carefully.
verb (used with object), spied, spying.
9. to catch sight of suddenly; espy; descry:
to spy a rare bird overhead.
10. to discover or find out by observation or scrutiny (often followed by out).
11. to observe (a person, place, enemy, etc.) secretively or furtively with hostile intent.
12. to inspect or examine or to search or look for closely or carefully.
Origin of spy
Middle English, Old French
1200-1250; (v.) Middle English spien, aphetic variant of espien to espy; (noun) Middle English, aphetic variant of espy a spy < Old
French espie
Related forms
spyship, noun
outspy, verb (used with object), outspied, outspying.
superspy, noun, plural superspies.
unspied, adjective
unspying, adjective
Dictionary.com
Examples from the web for spy
– That brings about the reason why she is being suspected as a spy for vermillion.
– Agent provocateur a police spy who infiltrates a group to disrupt or discredit it.
– The outlaws surrendered once being identify by the soldiers with the help of a spy.
Today’s aphorism
‘I call it, “feeding the chooks”.’
– Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen on news conferences.
On this day
26 April 121AD – birth of Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor. Died 17 March 180AD.
26 April 1865 – Union troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, the man who fired the fatal bullet on 14 April 1865 that assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.
26 April 1894 – birth of Rudolf Hess. Prominent Nazi politician who served as Deputy Fuhrer under Adolf Hitler. In 1941, Hess flew solo to Scotland in an effort to negotiate peace after being ignored by Hitler in various plans associated with the war. The flight was not sanctioned by Hitler. Hess was taken prisoner and charged with crimes against peace. He served a life sentence and remained in prison until his death. Died 17 August 1987.
26 April 1945 – birth of Dick Johnson, Australian racing car legend. Five-time Australian Touring Car Champion, three-time winner of the Bathurst 1000, inducted into the V8 Supercar Hall of Fame in 2001.
26 April 1986 – the Chernobyl nuclear disaster when an explosion and fire at the No 4 reactor in the Chernobyl nuclear plant, Ukraine, releases radioactive gas across Northern Europe. It is estimated to have killed up to 1 million people from radioactive related cancers.
26 April 1989 – the deadliest tornado in world history strikes Central Bangladesh, killing more than 1300, injuring 12,000 and leaving up to 80,000 homeless.