I. spy 1 /spaɪ/ BrE AmE noun ( plural spies ) [countable]
someone whose job is to find out secret information about another country, organization, or group SYN secret agent :
She worked as a spy for the American government.
spy ring/network (=an orgnanized group of spies)
spy plane/satellite
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COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ work as a spy
He died while working as a government spy.
▪ be arrested/imprisoned/shot etc as a spy
Anyone caught working with the Resistance was shot as a spy.
■ ADJECTIVES/NOUN + spy
▪ a British/American etc spy
He was arrested on suspicion of being an American spy.
▪ a foreign spy
The activities of foreign spies have increased.
▪ an enemy spy
He gave information to enemy spies.
▪ a government spy
They thought I was a government spy.
■ spy + NOUN
▪ a spy story/novel/movie etc
John Le Carré is famous for writing spy stories.
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one of the most exciting spy movies of all time
▪ a spy ring ( also a network of spies ) (=a group of spies)
He was well informed through his network of spies.
▪ a spy satellite/plane (=used for spying)
The Americans have denied using spy satellites to spy on China.
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The photographs were taken by spy planes.
▪ a spy chief ( also a spymaster )
Britain's first woman spy chief
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John Le Carre 's fictional spy master George Smiley
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THESAURUS
▪ spy someone whose job is to find out secret information about another country:
Stalin controlled a network of spies.
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The film is basically a spy story.
▪ agent/secret agent someone who works for a government or police department in order to get secret information about another country or organization:
a secret agent working for MI5
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He is the FBI’s best undercover agent (=one who works secretly and pretends to be someone else) .
▪ double agent someone who finds out an enemy country’s secrets for their own country but who also gives secrets to the enemy:
a former CIA double agent who also worked for the KGB
▪ mole someone who works for an organization while secretly giving information to its enemies:
A mole in the government was leaking information to the press.
▪ informer someone who secretly tells the police about criminal activities, especially for money:
Acting on information from an informer, the police raided the house.
▪ espionage the work that spies do:
He is serving a 20-year prison sentence for espionage.
II. spy 2 BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle spied , present participle spying , third person singular spies )
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: espier ]
1 . [intransitive] to secretly collect information about an enemy country or an organization you are competing against
spy on
He was charged with spying on British military bases.
spy for
He confessed to spying for North Korea.
2 . [transitive] literary to suddenly see someone or something, especially after searching for them SYN spot :
Ellen suddenly spied her friend in the crowd.
—spying noun [uncountable]
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THESAURUS
■ work that a spy does
▪ spying the action of secretly collecting information about a person, country, or organization:
Several embassy officials had been arrested for spying.
▪ espionage spying. Espionage is more formal than spying :
Zakharov was charged with espionage.
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The company carried out a campaign of industrial espionage against its main rival.
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Double agents are quite commonplace in the world of espionage.
▪ surveillance activity in which the police, army, etc watch a person or place carefully because they may be connected with criminal activities:
24-hour surveillance of the building
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The police have had him under surveillance (=have been watching him) for months.
▪ covert operations secret military activities against an enemy:
These planes are used by British Intelligence for covert operations.
spy on somebody phrasal verb
to watch someone secretly in order to find out what they are doing:
She sent you to spy on me, didn’t she?
spy something ↔ out phrasal verb
1 . to secretly find out information about something
2 . spy out the land British English to secretly find out more information about a situation before deciding what to do