espy

And sympathy for the people whom we espy is born out of that complicity, a compassion that stems from the false sense that we are observing people’s most private moments without permission, undetected.

From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2015

A traveller upon the sea she fared, fleeting on with foam about her throat over the waves, over the ocean-streams with wreathéd prow, until they might espy the Geatish cliffs and headlands that they knew.

From The New Yorker ● Jun. 2, 2014

They know that the other judges of the World Court are not filled with gladness when they espy the ruddy, oval face and trim white beard of John Bassett Moore.

From Time Magazine Archive

From Chipping Norton, one can espy an extraordinary edifice, half-castle, half-factory, called the Bliss tweed mill.

From Time Magazine Archive

We could not espy Pomp, living or dead.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

A man who stops for gas a sign espies That says a dog out back has quite a knack.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 3, 2020

Behind peppy songs like “Singin’ in the Rain”  and “Tiptoe Through the Tulips,” Mr. Mac espies a frantic need to forget those horrors.

From New York Times ● Jan. 14, 2015

In this situation he remains; but not long, until some one of the condors, with his far-piercing glance, espies the ensanguined object, and comes swooping downward.

From The Boy Hunters by Unknown

But most of all, his Mother dear, She who had fainted with her fear, Rejoiced when waking she espies The Child; when she can trust her eyes,       And touches the blind Boy.

From Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland A.D. 1803 by Shairp, John Campbell

He peeps in around the door and espies Mrs. Starkweather.

From Theft A Play In Four Acts by London, Jack

Leave it to van Gogh to turn a tree he espied in the landscape into a profound mystery, bringing new life to an ancient symbol.

From New York Times ● May 11, 2023

Discerning blurry outlines in Himalayan mountain zones, gullible visitors uttered: “Just look! We’ve finally espied proof! The abominable snowman eXists!”

From Washington Post ● Nov. 23, 2022

As opposed to when I espied Mr. McConnell on my flight in yesterday, now he is dressed to the nines, as befits both his home state and the event.

From Washington Times ● May 10, 2017

Eventually, many months after that issue of Sports Illustrated had been consigned to the stacks, an editor espied the image again and thought it worth consideration.

From Slate ● May 22, 2015

When Lysa espied Catelyn, she welcomed her with a sisterly embrace and a moist kiss on the cheek.

From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin

The couple got into rare books quite by accident, recalled David Bauman, a gentle, soft-spoken man in his 70s, after espying some at Freeman, the auction house in Philadelphia where they lived as newlyweds.

From New York Times ● Jan. 30, 2019

The third moral outrage I imagine the future espying is our cruelty to the ill and aged in our fetish for surgical intervention.

From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2016

Only John Melia, a spokesman for Local 1-2 of the Utility Workers Union of America, the union representing the locked-out workers, grows impassioned, in the manner of a kamikaze pilot espying a large aircraft carrier.

From New York Times ● Jul. 24, 2012

"Oh, look at this," cried the President, espying "Little Phil" Sheridan's gold-plated Winchester.

From Time Magazine Archive

After a moment Gaspar rode slowly forward again, and soon espying, but not recognizing, him, the Sun Maid advanced.

From The Sun Maid A Story of Fort Dearborn by Raymond, Evelyn