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# spy

«spy» in Mova's school dictionary: **a person who secretly collects information about another…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a spy, spies); verb (spy, spies, spied, spying)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A spy is a person who secretly collects information about another country, group or person. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spy/#m1)

2) To spy on someone is to watch them secretly. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spy/#m2)

3) To spy something is to see or notice it: «I spy with my little eye…». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spy/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In stories and films spies use codes, disguises and gadgets. In history lessons spies worked in wars. In everyday life «I spy» is a guessing game. In safety and privacy lessons, spying on people's messages is wrong, and spyware can spy on your computer. Phrases: «spy on», «I spy», «a spy camera», «spy story».

### examples

- The spy sent a secret message in code. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spy/#x1)
- Stop spying on me! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spy/#x2)
- Let's play «I spy» in the car. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spy/#x3)
- I spy something beginning with «t». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spy/#x4)
- She spied a coin under the sofa. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spy/#x5)
- In the war, spies hid secret plans in shoes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spy/#x6)
- The spy wore a disguise so nobody knew him. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spy/#x7)
- “Do you suspect me of being a spy sent by the ogre?” [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spy/#x8)

### note

Plural: «spies»; past: «spied» (y → i). Spying on someone's diary or phone without asking is a breach of privacy and trust.

### In the corpora

- [Parents may ask to see the chat or the TV history to understand what happened and fix it, not to spy.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/59-the-parents-walk-in-how-good-parents-react/20/)
- ["Terminate with extreme prejudice" means assassinate, murder an important or chosen person on purpose (US spy slang).](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/25-spin-war-and-violence/18/)
- [Games like I spy, counting number plates and audiobooks make a long car journey pass faster.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/93-boredom-excitement-and-pride/7/)
- [He played Minecraft until midnight and felt like a spy.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/418-sleep-and-school-mornings/1/)
- [We are all one man's sons; we are upright men, thy servants are no spies.'](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/GEN.1372/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «spy» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/spy/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.