Say vs Spy - What's the difference?
say | spy |
To pronounce.
To recite.
* , chapter=5
, title= To communicate, either verbally or in writing.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4
, passage=No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.}}
* {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
, chapter=1 To indicate in a written form.
(impersonal) To have a common expression; (used in singular passive voice or plural active voice to indicate a rumor or well-known fact).
* 1815 , :
* 1819 , Great Britain Court of Chancery, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery , page 8:
* 1841 , Christopher Marshall, The Knickerbocker (New-York Monthly Magazine) , page 379:
(informal, imperative) Let's say; used to mark an example, supposition or hypothesis.
* 1984 , (Martin Amis), Money: a suicide note?
To speak; to express an opinion; to make answer; to reply.
* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
* (John Milton) (1608-1674)
.
*
One's stated opinion or input into a discussion or decision.
* 2004 , Richard Rogers, Information politics on the Web
(colloquial) (non-gloss definition, Used to gain one's attention before making an inquiry or suggestion)
For example; let us assume.
(informal) (Used to introduce a hypothetical)
A type of fine cloth similar to serge.
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , I.iv:
Trial by sample; assay; specimen.
* Hooker
* Shakespeare
Tried quality; temper; proof.
* Spenser
Essay; trial; attempt.
A person who secretly watches and examines the actions of other individuals or organizations and gathers information on them (usually to gain an advantage).
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= To act as a spy.
To spot; to catch sight of.
* Jonathan Swift
* Latimer
To search narrowly; to scrutinize.
* Shakespeare
To explore; to view; inspect and examine secretly, as a country.
* Bible, Numbers xxi. 32
barf (US), vomit, spew
to barf (US), throw up, vomit, spew (also figurative )
As a proper noun say
is .As a noun spy is
a person who secretly watches and examines the actions of other individuals or organizations and gathers information on them (usually to gain an advantage).As a verb spy is
to act as a spy.say
English
(wikipedia say)Etymology 1
From (etyl) seyen, seien, seggen, &c., from (etyl) .Verb
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.}}
citation, passage=She was like a Beardsley Salome , he had said . And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.}}
- They say that Hope is happiness; But genuine Love must prize the past.
- It is said , a bargain cannot be set aside upon inadequacy only.
- It’s said that fifteen wagon loads of ready-made clothes for the Virginia troops came to, and stay in, town to-night.
- I've followed Selina down the strip, when we're shopping, say , and she strolls on ahead, wearing sawn-off jeans and a wash-withered T-shirt
- You have said ; but whether wisely or no, let the forest judge.
- To this argument we shall soon have said ; for what concerns it us to hear a husband divulge his household privacies?
Synonyms
* SeeDerived terms
* dessay * doomsaying * nay-say * saith * sayeth * sayer * saying * there is much to be said * what do you say * you don't sayNoun
(en noun)- Above all, however, we would like to think that there is more to be decided, after the engines and after the humans have had their says .
References
* *Etymology 2
Grammaticalization of the verb. In the case of the conjunction, it could be considered an elision of "Let's say that" and for the "for example" sense of "Let's say"Adverb
(-)- Say , what did you think about the movie?
- Pick a color you think they'd like, say , peach.
- He was driving pretty fast, say , fifty miles per hour.
Synonyms
* (used to gain attention) heyConjunction
(English Conjunctions)- Say your family is starving and you don't have any money, is it ok to steal some food?
Etymology 3
From (etyl) saie, from (etyl) saga, plural of .Noun
(-)- All in a kirtle of discolourd say / He clothed was
Etymology 4
Aphetic form of assay.Noun
(en noun)- If those principal works of God be but certain tastes and says , as if were, of that final benefit.
- Thy tongue some say of breeding breathes.
- He found a sword of better say .
- (Ben Jonson)
Statistics
*spy
English
Noun
(spies)Travels and travails, passage=Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.}}
Derived terms
* spy ringVerb
- During the Cold War, Russia and America would each spy on each other for recon.
- I think I can spy that hot guy coming over here.
- One in reading, skipped over all sentences where he spied a note of admiration.
- Look about with your eyes; spy what things are to be reformed in the church of England.
- It is my nature's plague / To spy into abuses.
- Moses sent to spy Jaazer, and they took the villages thereof.