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What is the difference between spy and mole?

spy | mole |

As nouns the difference between spy and mole

is that 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) while mole is a pigmented spot on the skin, a naevus, slightly raised, and sometimes hairy.

As a verb spy

is to act as a spy.

As a proper noun Mole is

a river in Surrey, England.

spy

English

Noun

(spies)
  • 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= 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 ring

    Verb

  • To act as a spy.
    • During the Cold War, Russia and America would each spy on each other for recon.
  • To spot; to catch sight of.
    • I think I can spy that hot guy coming over here.
  • * Jonathan Swift
    • One in reading, skipped over all sentences where he spied a note of admiration.
  • * Latimer
    • Look about with your eyes; spy what things are to be reformed in the church of England.
  • To search narrowly; to scrutinize.
  • * Shakespeare
    • It is my nature's plague / To spy into abuses.
  • To explore; to view; inspect and examine secretly, as a country.
  • * Bible, Numbers xxi. 32
    • Moses sent to spy Jaazer, and they took the villages thereof.

    Derived terms

    * spy on

    Related terms

    * spyglass * spyware

    See also

    *

    Anagrams

    * ---- ==Norwegian Bokmål==

    Noun

  • barf (US), vomit, spew

    • Verb

  • to barf (US), throw up, vomit, spew (also figurative )

    • Synonyms

    * (l)

    References

    * ----

    mole

    English

    (wikipedia mole)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) mole, mool, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A pigmented spot on the skin, a naevus, slightly raised, and sometimes hairy.
    • Synonyms
    * birthmark * nevus, naevus,
    Related terms
    * beauty mark

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) mol, molde, molle, from (etyl) . Derivation as an abbreviation of (etyl) molewarpe, a variation of moldewarpe, in Middle English is unexplained and probably unlikely due to the simultaneous occurrence of both words. See mouldwarp.

    Alternative forms

    * mool, moule, mowle, mold (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any of several small, burrowing insectivores of the family Talpidae.
  • Any of the burrowing rodents also called mole rats.
  • (espionage) An internal spy, a person who involves himself or herself with an enemy organisation, especially an intelligence or governmental organisation, to determine and betray its secrets from within.
  • A kind of self-propelled excavator used to form underground drains, or to clear underground pipelines
    • Derived terms
    * golden mole * mole crab * mole cricket * mole rat * mole run * mole salamander
    Synonyms
    * mouldwarp

    Etymology 3

    From moll'' (from ''Moll'', an archaic nickname for ''Mary''), influenced by the spelling of the word ''mole ("an internal spy"), and due to /m?l/ and /m??l/ merging as [mo?l] in the Australian accent.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A moll, a bitch, a slut.
    • Synonyms
    * moll

    Etymology 4

    (etyl) or (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (nautical) A massive structure, usually of stone, used as a pier, breakwater or junction between places separated by water. mole (accessed: March 30, 2007)
  • * 1847 — George A. Fisk, A pastor's memorial of the holy land
    • [Alexander the Great] then conceived the stupendous idea of constructing a mole , which should at once connect [Tyre] with the main land; and this was actually accomplished by driving piles and pouring in incalculable quantities of soil and fragments of rock; and it is generally believed, partly on the authority of ancient authors, that the whole ruins of Old Tyre were absorbed in this vast enterprize, and buried in the depths of the sea [...]
  • * 1983 — Archibald Lyall, Arthur Norman Brangham, The companion guide to the south of France
    • [about Saint-Tropez] Yachts and fishing boats fill the little square of water, which is surrounded on two sides by quays, on the third by a small ship-repairing yard and on the fourth by the mole where the fishing boats moor and the nets are spread out to dry.
  • (rare) A haven or harbour, protected with such a breakwater.

    • Etymology 5

    (1897) (etyl) Mol.

    Alternative forms

    * mol (dated)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (chemistry, physics) In the International System of Units, the base unit of amount of substance; the amount of substance of a system which contains as many elementary entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kg]] of . Symbol: mol. The number of atoms is known as [[Avogadro's number, Avogadro’s number
    • Synonyms
    * gram molecule

    Etymology 6

    (hydatidiform mole) From (etyl) mola.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A hemorrhagic mass of tissue in the uterus caused by a dead ovum.

    • Etymology 7

    From (etyl), from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One of several spicy sauces typical of the cuisine of Mexico and neighboring Central America, especially the sauce which contains chocolate and which is used in cooking main dishes, not desserts. mole (accessed: March 30, 2007)

    • References

    Anagrams

    * English terms with multiple etymologies ----