descry

In ancient Egypt, seekers after spiritual guidance could spend a night in incubation, which was a special institutionalised sleep undertaken in the temples of the gods precisely in order to descry meaning in the dark.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 15, 2018

What yonder twinkling azure orb do I descry?

From Washington Post ● Apr. 29, 2015

You will descry shades of H. Potter and of "Grimm," which this series predates.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 12, 2012

Was the distribution of shot times entirely random, or were there any local or global patterns to descry: longies with longies, middies alternating with shorties, etc.?

From New York Times ● Mar. 1, 2010

Dimly through the mists they could descry the long arm of the mountains rising on their left.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

Sure, if that long-with-love-acquainted eyes Can judge of love, thou feel'st a lover's case, I read it in thy looks; thy languish'd grace, To me, that feel the like, thy state descries.

From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Raymond MacDonald Alden

An instant later, the dying face seemed lightened, like one who descries the lights of home.

From St. Cuthbert's by Robert E. Knowles

He experienced a certain relief in its advent, as one who descries a familiar face in a foreign crowd.

From Notwithstanding by Mary Cholmondeley

Barclay, Captain, first descries the Straits of Fuca, 19, 62.

From The Oregon Territory Its History and Discovery by Travers Twiss

It is a superficial judgment that descries nothing but insincerity in the unvarying suavity of a well-bred manner; that regards the conventional code of behavior as merely a device for rendering social life artificial.

From Etiquette by Agnes H. Morton

Once the employer of 500 people, the mill is a keyhole through which most of Dundee’s history can be descried.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 30, 2022

A truly fascinating man, Angleton was a devoted student of the matchless British literary critic William Empson, who descried, in the densely metaphoric poems of Donne and Shakespeare, patterns of subtle contradiction, self-reference, and ambiguity.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 26, 2019

Presently they descried people, naked, and the Admiral landed in the boat, which was armed, along with Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and Vincent Yanez his brother, captain of the Nina.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2019

Police Chief Murphy Paul descried the footage as “shocking to the conscience,” even as he emphasized that it does not “tell the whole story of the investigation.”

From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2018

To the east the outflung arm of the mountains marched to a sudden end, and far lands could be descried beyond them, wide and vague.

From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien

My colleague Jessica Winter does have a helpful hint, though, for descrying Trump’s fanciest, sneakiest adviser:

From Slate ● May 2, 2017

Say you were descrying the future TV of 2000, 20 years ago.

From Time Magazine Archive

While thus employed, sentinels were stationed at such points in the neighborhood as afforded the best opportunity for descrying the approach of Indians, and the watch was most careful.

From The Memories of Fifty Years Containing Brief Biographical Notices of Distinguished Americans, and Anecdotes of Remarkable Men; Interspersed with Scenes and Incidents Occurring during a Long Life of Observation Chiefly Spent in the Southwest by William Henry Sparks

The gloom which prevailed around—the monuments which intervened—and, above all, the distance at which I then was from the grave of Clara Douglas—prevented me from descrying the captain.

From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 4 by Various

Silence stands breathless with expectation—all eyes are riveted—the horses come within descrying distance—"beautiful!" three close together, two behind.

From Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities by Robert Smith Surtees