spy

noun

/spaɪ/

(plural spies)

a person who tries to get secret information about another country, organization or person, especially somebody who is employed by a government or the police间谍；密探
- He was denounced as a foreign spy.有人告发他是外国间谍。
- a police spy警方密探
- a spy plane/satellite (= used to watch the activities of the enemy)间谍飞机／卫星
- Video spy cameras are being used in public places.隐蔽的摄像机在监视着公共场所。
- Counter-intelligence officers uncovered a spy ring involving twenty agents.反情报官员发现了一个涉及 20 名特工的间谍网。
- He denied acting as an enemy spy.他否认自己是敌方间谍。
- He was a spy for the government.他是政府密探。
- Soviet spies who had infiltrated the American government渗透进美国政府的苏联间谍
- the director of a top American spy agency美国顶级间谍机构负责人
- He became a government spy during the war.战争期间他为政府当间谍。
- He worked as a British spy in Russia.他在俄罗斯当过英国间谍。
Topics War and conflictc1, Jobsc1
Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- enemy
- foreign
- government
- …
… of spies
- network
verb + spy
- act as
- be
- work as
- …
spy + verb
- infiltrate
spy + noun
- film
- movie
- novel
- …
preposition
- spy for
词源Middle English: shortening of Old French espie ‘espying’, espier ‘espy’, of Germanic origin, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin specere ‘behold, look’.

spy

verb

/spaɪ/

动词形式

present simple I / you / we / they spy	/spaɪ/ /spaɪ/
he / she / it spies	/spaɪz/ /spaɪz/
past simple spied	/spaɪd/ /spaɪd/
past participle spied	/spaɪd/ /spaɪd/
-ing form spying	/ˈspaɪɪŋ/ /ˈspaɪɪŋ/

Idioms Phrasal Verbs

[intransitive] to collect secret information about another country, organization or person从事间谍活动；搜集情报
- He spied for his government for more than ten years.他做过十多年的政府间谍。
Topics War and conflictc1
[transitive] spy somebody/something (literary or formal) to suddenly see or notice somebody/something突然看见；发现
- In the distance we spied the Pacific for the first time.在远处，我们突然第一次看到了太平洋。

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

Idioms

spy out the land

to collect information before deciding what to do（事先）摸清情况，窥察虚实