Espial

//ɪˈspaɪ.əl// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An act of noticing or observing. countable, uncountable

    "Secure—unnoted—Conrad's prow pass'd by, / And anchor'd where his ambush meant to lie; / Screen'd from espial by the jutting cape, / That rears on high its rude fantastic shape."

  2. 2
    the act of detecting something; catching sight of something wordnet
  3. 3
    The fact of noticing or observing; a discovery. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    A scout; a spy. countable, obsolete, uncountable

    "these be most necessarie for the espials belonging vnto a camp"

Synonyms

All synonyms
detectionespybringing to lightbuggingcasual discoverycatching

Example

More examples

"Secure—unnoted—Conrad's prow pass'd by, / And anchor'd where his ambush meant to lie; / Screen'd from espial by the jutting cape, / That rears on high its rude fantastic shape."

Etymology

From Middle English espiaille, from Old French espier (“to watch”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.