spy

Từ điển Oxford Advanced Learner 8th

spy [spy spies spied spying] noun, verb BrE [spaɪ] NAmE [spaɪ]
noun (pl. spies)
a person who tries to get secret information about another country, organization or person, especially sb who is employed by a government or the police
•He was denounced as a foreign spy.
•a police spy
•a spy plane/satellite (= used to watch the activities of the enemy)
•Video spy cameras are being used in public places.

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’.

Example Bank:
•Counter-intelligence officers uncovered a spy ring involving twenty agents.
•He denied acting as an enemy spy.
•He was a spy for the government.
•Soviet spies who had infiltrated the American government
•the director of a top American spy agency
•He became a government spy during the war.
•He worked as a British spy in Russia.
Idiom: ↑spy out the land
Derived: ↑spy on somebody ▪ ↑spy something out
 
verb (spies, spy·ing, spied, spied)
1. intransitive to collect secret information about another country, organization or person
•He spied for his government for more than ten years.
2. transitive ~ sb/sth (literary or formal)to suddenly see or notice sb/sth
•In the distance we spied the Pacific for the first time.
Verb forms:

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’.
 

• Từ đồng nghĩa / Synonyms:
  undercover agent, sight, stag, snoop, sleuth, descry, spot, espy