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Espy   Listen
verb
Espy  v. t.  (past & past part. espied; pres. part. espying)  
1.
To catch sight of; to perceive with the eyes; to discover, as a distant object partly concealed, or not obvious to notice; to see at a glance; to discern unexpectedly; to spy; as, to espy land; to espy a man in a crowd. "As one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the inn,... he espied his money." "A goodly vessel did I then espy Come like a giant from a haven broad."
2.
To inspect narrowly; to examine and keep watch upon; to watch; to observe. "He sends angels to espy us in all our ways."
Synonyms: To discern; discover; detect; descry; spy.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Espy" Quotes from Famous Books



... the closelier they suppressed The fire of love, the fiercer still it raged in their breast. The wall that parted house from house had riven therein a cranny, Which shrunk at making of the wall: this fault not marked of any Of many hundred years before (what doth not love espy?) These lovers first of all found out, and made a way whereby To talk together secretly, and through the same did go Their loving whisp'rings very light and safely to and fro. Now as at one side Pyramus, and Thisbe on the tother Stood often drawing one of them the pleasant breath from other: ...
— The Sources and Analogues of 'A Midsummer-night's Dream' • Compiled by Frank Sidgwick

... 30th, having hitherto carried on our occupation without seeing or hearing anything of the natives, whilst I was busily employed with Mr. Roe in observing the sun's meridional altitude, I happened on looking round to espy five natives standing about forty or fifty yards off among the high grass watching our movements. As soon as they perceived we had discovered them they began to repeat the word itchew (friend) and to pat their breasts, thereby intimating that their visit had no hostile motive. As the sun was ...
— Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia - Performed between the years 1818 and 1822 • Phillip Parker King

... half an eye What stands before him may espy; But optics sharp it needs, I ween, To see what is ...
— Brief History of English and American Literature • Henry A. Beers

... highest ridge, Where oft the stormy winter gale Cuts like a scythe, while through the clouds It sweeps from vale to vale; Not five yards from the mountain-path, This thorn you on your left espy; And to the left, three yards beyond, You see a little muddy pond Of water, never dry; I've measured it from side to side: 'Tis three feet ...
— Lyrical Ballads, With Other Poems, 1800, Vol. I. • William Wordsworth

... place this very day, without his hoping for it, and against the wish of Pamphilus. Here's cleverness {for you}! But, if I had kept myself quiet, no mischief would have happened. (Starting.) But see, I espy him; I'm utterly undone! Would that there were some spot here for me, from which I might this instant ...
— The Comedies of Terence - Literally Translated into English Prose, with Notes • Publius Terentius Afer, (AKA) Terence

... from out the thicket wood A ramping lion rushed suddenly, And hunting greedy after savage blood, The royal virgin helpless did espy; At whom, with gaping mouth full greedily To seize and to devour her tender corse, When he did run, he stopp'd ere he drew nigh, And loosing all his rage in quick remorse, As with the sight amazed, ...
— The Illustrated London Reading Book • Various

... conceit? Be that as it may, my book no longer interested me, and finally I rose up and went away after having deposited all my nuts on the grass in the hope that the little maid might chance that way and espy them. ...
— The Heart's Highway - A Romance of Virginia in the Seventeeth Century • Mary E. Wilkins

... risen upon the heavens high, When to the castle window a beauteous maid drew nigh, In order to espy there and watch the break of day, Whereby from royal Gudrun she would ...
— Legends of the Middle Ages - Narrated with Special Reference to Literature and Art • H.A. Guerber

... the garden of the palace just then, and they turned with disappointment to obey Glinda's command. But before they left the garden the Tin Woodman, who was fond of flowers, chanced to espy a big red rose growing upon a bush; so he plucked the flower and fastened it securely in the tin ...
— The Marvelous Land of Oz • L. Frank Baum

... espy a fundamental contradiction in everything that I am saying, now expressing a longing for unending life, now affirming that this earthly life does not possess the value that is given to it. Contradiction? To ...
— Tragic Sense Of Life • Miguel de Unamuno

... passage safe. Yesterday, later by five hours than now, Twelve hundred threescore years and six had fill'd The circuit of their course, since here the way Was broken. Thitherward I straight dispatch Certain of these my scouts, who shall espy If any on the surface bask. With them Go ye: for ye shall find them nothing fell. Come Alichino forth," with that he cried, "And Calcabrina, and Cagnazzo thou! The troop of ten let Barbariccia lead. With ...
— The Divine Comedy • Dante

... permanent dye to ladies' dresses, in the gorgeous clouds of sunset. There were at least fifty kinds of perpetual motion, one of which was applicable to the wits of newspaper editors and writers of every description. Professor Espy was here, with a tremendous storm in a gum-elastic bag. I could enumerate many more of these Utopian inventions; but, after all, a more imaginative collection is to be found in the ...
— The Hall of Fantasy (From "Mosses From An Old Manse") • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... could hear the rustling sound of the leaves, as the rogue, as we supposed, moved his head or perhaps only his ears among them. I held my breath. There were no tall trees near behind which we could run should he espy us. Our only chance of safety was in bringing him down by a shot. We were well to windward of him, and he had not yet discovered us. We all stopped, holding our breath, with our rifles cocked, ready to fire. We were ...
— My First Voyage to Southern Seas • W.H.G. Kingston

... size of the room) small round tables, low, chair-surrounded, each laden with a due complement of plates, glasses, victuals, and so on, and each capable of accommodating three or four couples at a time. To one of these, if you are wise, and have the luck to espy any vacant chairs, you will surely—I am of course addressing my male readers—lead your partner. I assume that, with an experienced eye to this very thing, you have purposely contrived to engage one with whom you specially enjoy, or think it ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 12, No. 32, November, 1873 • Various

... with sad and careful heart, to consider of the nature and largeness of my sin, and to search into the word of God, if in any place I could espy a word of promise, or any encouraging sentence by which I might take relief. Wherefore I began to consider that of Mark iii., 'All manner of sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:' ...
— Life of Bunyan • Rev. James Hamilton

... way into man's citadel; thus to harp by the hour on the virtues of his hearer and not once alarm his self-respect. Otto was all roseate, in and out, with flattery and Tokay and an approving conscience. He saw himself in the most attractive colours. If even Greisengesang, he thought, could thus espy the loose stitches in Seraphina's character, and thus disloyally impart them to the opposite camp, he, the discarded husband - the dispossessed Prince - could scarce have erred ...
— Prince Otto • Robert Louis Stevenson

... her to me nigh Like to the fullest moon her form and favour show to me, * Laud to her All-creating Lord, laud to the Lord on high, She left me full of mourning, sleepless, sick with pine and pain * And ceaseth not my heart to yearn her mystery[FN208] to espy." ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4 • Richard F. Burton

... coat and vest and hat, and pair of trousers you espy, You can bet your bottom dollar there's a ...
— The Arkansaw Bear - A Tale of Fanciful Adventure • Albert Bigelow Paine

... eyes, and wings as yet only able to fly downwards. There was scarcely any hour from noon of the day (for some of them had horns) to the small sweet hours when no one heard them, that they forgot to salute the very large, quiet, wingless owl whom they could espy moving about by day above their mouse-runs, or preening her white and sometimes blue and sometimes grey feathers morning and evening in a large square hole high up in the front wall. And they could not understand at all why no ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy

... punctually in the post-office. As it was, if she left it alone, Frederic would never get it, and Mrs. Sutton remain unconscious of its fate—unless some other passer-by should perceive and rescue it from illegibility and dissolution; unless Mabel should espy it on their return-walk, or, coming back, the next moment, to seek her truant mate, catch sight of the snowy leaflet of peace in its snuggery ...
— At Last • Marion Harland

... a pitcher of freshly clipped roses, the morning dew still upon them, and you only cease to admire as you espy your mail that lies there awaiting your hand. News from home and loved ones greets you before these new-found friends do! You have not seen the good folks who live here, only the old colored man who pretended ...
— Little Journeys To the Homes of the Great, Volume 3 (of 14) • Elbert Hubbard

... the gate, flourishing a seven-thonged whip, on each thong of which a heavy golden ball was hung. Great was his amazement and his wrath when he saw the giant lying bound and helpless upon the ground; and with sharp, eager eyes he peered warily around to see if, perchance, he might espy his hidden foe. But, when he could find no one, his anger grew hotter than before, and he swung his golden scourge fiercely about his head. Well was it for Siegfried then, that the Tarnkappe hid him from sight; for the dwarf kept pounding about in air so sturdily and strong, ...
— The Story of Siegfried • James Baldwin

... Coenties Slip, looking up the people who on former visits had said: "Some other time, perhaps," or "If we should have room for another man we will be glad to remember you," or "We know Mr. Cobb, and shall be pleased," etc., etc., when he chanced to espy a strange sign tacked outside a warehouse door, a sign which bore the unheard-of-announcement—unheard of to Oliver, especially the last word, "Shipping ...
— The Fortunes of Oliver Horn • F. Hopkinson Smith

... boor from scythe released, On these scorched fields were known! Death hovered o'er the maddening rout, And, in the thrilling battle-shout, Sent for the bloody banquet out A summons of his own. Through rolling smoke the Demon's eye Could well each destined guest espy, Well could his ear in ecstasy Distinguish every tone That filled the chorus of the fray - From cannon-roar and trumpet-bray, From charging squadrons' wild hurra, From the wild clang that marked their way, - Down to the dying groan, And the last sob of ...
— Some Poems by Sir Walter Scott • Sir Walter Scott

... the manner of catching the queen. I seize her very gently, as I espy her among the bees, and by taking care to crush none of them, run not the least risk of being stung. The queen herself never stings, even if handled ever ...
— Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey-Bee - A Bee Keeper's Manual • L. L. Langstroth

... Mr. Espy Gallipher, of Schellsburg, Pa., has devised an axle journal having a groove lengthwise upon its upper side which extends back upon the surface of the axle and communicates with an oil cup. A sliding rod occupies a portion of the groove; when this ...
— Scientific American, Volume 40, No. 13, March 29, 1879 • Various

... but he was struck afresh with the vivacity of her observation of it, and with her knowledge of plants and stones. At that season the wild flowers had mostly departed, but a few of them lingered, and Miss Garland never failed to espy them in their outlying corners. They interested her greatly; she was charmed when they were old friends, and charmed even more when they were new. She displayed a very light foot in going in quest of them, and had soon covered the front seat of the carriage with a tangle of strange vegetation. ...
— Roderick Hudson • Henry James

... they did espy lights ahead. It was then almost midnight. A group of horsemen arose suddenly like shadows out of the mesquite ...
— The Mission of Janice Day • Helen Beecher Long

... partridges, and pheasants, and consider all other wild animals as either enemies or beneath notice. Indeed, a gamekeeper's zoology is confined to five things—pheasants, partridges, hares, rabbits, and ants' eggs. Ah! I do think I espy about twenty yards ahead the fly agaric (Amanita muscaria). To be sure, here is a fine lot; some just appearing above ground in the form of scarlet balls; others fully expanded. How splendid they are! You notice many white patches on their tops; let us ...
— Country Walks of a Naturalist with His Children • W. Houghton

... stone is sometimes seen to lie Couched on the bald top of an eminence, Wonder to all who do the same espy By what means it could thither come, and whence, So that it seems a thing endued with sense, Like a sea-beast crawled forth, which on a shelf Of rock or sand reposeth, ...
— The Prose Works of William Wordsworth • William Wordsworth

... through my thought that we fare forth, I and thou (and Eunuch Masrur shall make a third), and we will promenade the main streets of Baghdad and solace ourselves with seeing its several places and peradventure I may espy somewhat to hearten my heart and clear off my care and relieve me of what is with me of straitness of breast." Ja'afar made answer, "O Commander of the Faithful, know that thou art Caliph and Regent and Cousin to the Apostle of Allah and haply ...
— Supplemental Nights, Volume 5 • Richard F. Burton

... room I stray, Yet my Host can ne'er espy, And I know not to this day Whether guest ...
— The Poems of William Watson • William Watson

... glass where I behold my heart, Mine eye the window through the which thine eye May see my heart, and there thyself espy In bloody colours how thou painted art. Thine eye the pile is of a murdering dart; Mine eye the sight thou tak'st thy level by To hit my heart, and never shoot'st awry. Mine eye thus helps thine eye to work my smart. ...
— Elizabethan Sonnet-Cycles - Delia - Diana • Samuel Daniel and Henry Constable

... is perhaps an exaggeration to say that Maury alone laid the foundation for our present Weather Bureau, he certainly shares with Professors Redfield, Espy, Loomis, Joseph Henry, Dr. Increase Lapham, and others, the honor of having been one of the first to suggest the feasibility of our present systematic ...
— American Adventures - A Second Trip 'Abroad at home' • Julian Street

... walked in the garden or lurked hardly distinguishable among the sticks and stones of the forest, morality was just an understanding between a man and his neighbour, a temporary agreement entered on by any two hunting savages whom He might happen to espy between the tree-trunks. When He dwelt among the peaks of Sinai or Olympus, the sphere of morality had extended to the whole tribe that occupied the subjacent valley. It came to include the nation, all the subjects ...
— The World in Chains - Some Aspects of War and Trade • John Mavrogordato

... eyes, that came Into our camp, ill-favored, hardly cast In mortal mould? By her, be sure, was wrought This direful sorcery. Demon or witch, Yakshi or Rakshasi, or gliding ghost, Or something frightful, was she. Hers this deed Of midnight murders; doubt there can be none. Ah, if we could espy that hateful one, The ruin of our march, the woe-maker, With stones, clods, canes, or clubs, nay, with clenched fists, We'd strike her dead, the murderess of our band!" Trembling the Princess heard those angry words; And—saddened, maddened, ...
— Hindu Literature • Epiphanius Wilson

... whom was a young brother, whose vigour and lustihood neither the fasts nor the vigils availed to subdue. One afternoon, while the rest of the confraternity slept, our young monk took a stroll around the church, which lay in a very sequestered spot, and chanced to espy a young and very beautiful girl, a daughter, perhaps, of one of the husbandmen of those parts, going through the fields and gathering herbs as she went. No sooner had he seen her than he was sharply assailed by carnal concupiscence, insomuch that ...
— The Decameron, Volume I • Giovanni Boccaccio

... value of Woman's Work in Church Philanthropies. Mrs. May Wright Sewall (Ind.) demonstrated the wonderful Progress of Women in Education. The New Education possessed the charm of novelty in being presented by Miss Grace Espy Patton, State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Colorado, a lady so delicate and dainty that, when Miss Anthony led her forward and said, "It has always been charged that voting and officeholding will make women coarse and ...
— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV • Various

... James P. Espy came to Washington to initiate what has grown into the Weather Signal Service. He was a Pennsylvanian by birth, and so poor in early life that when seventeen years of age he had not been able to learn to read. He subsequently mastered the English language and ...
— Perley's Reminiscences, Vol. 1-2 - of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis • Benjamin Perley Poore

... after, his good wife Our spiced bowl will try; The Lord prolong your life! Good fortune we espy For ...
— In The Yule-Log Glow, Vol. IV (of IV) • Harrison S. Morris

... people are commanded to resort; yea, within which they are commanded to close themselves in the time of greatest adversity. The manner of speaking is borrowed from that judgment and foresight which God has printed in this our nature; for when men espy great tempests appearing to come, they will not willingly remain uncovered in the fields, but straightway they will draw them to their houses or holds, that they may escape the vehemence of the same; and if they fear any enemy pursues them, they will shut their doors, to the end that the ...
— The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2 and 3. • John Welch, Bishop Latimer and John Knox

... intermingling of saturated portions of air, at different temperatures, must necessarily be attended by precipitation of moisture. This idea was advanced by Doctor Hutton, and considered competent to account for the prominent meteorological phenomena, until Professor Espy broached a questionable principle, (and which is rendered still more so by the late investigations of Regnault,) in opposition to Hutton's theory. That the theory is deficient, no one can gainsay. That ...
— Outlines of a Mechanical Theory of Storms - Containing the True Law of Lunar Influence • T. Bassnett

... are at rest, And snoring in their nest, Unheard, and un-espy'd, Through key-holes we do glide; Over tables, stools, and shelves, We trip it with our Fairy elves. And, if the house be foul With platter, dish, or bowl, Upstairs we nimbly creep, And find the sluts ...
— Welsh Folk-Lore - a Collection of the Folk-Tales and Legends of North Wales • Elias Owen

... have smiled In such a presence! yet despite Her dimpled cheek, her soft blue eye, Her voice so fraught with music's thrill, The shrewd observer might espy The traces therein of a will That scorned restraint, the soul of fire That slumbered in ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 32, June, 1860 • Various

... Trigault, who received M. Wilkie as if he had never seen him before. There was quite a crowd already. At least three or four hundred people had assembled in the Baron's reception-rooms, and among them were several former habitues of Madame d'Argeles's house; one could also espy M. de Fondege ferociously twirling his mustaches as usual, together with Kami-Bey, who was conspicuous by reason of his portly form and eternal red fez. However, among these men, all noticeable for their studied elegance of attire and manner, ...
— Baron Trigault's Vengeance - Volume 2 (of 2) • Emile Gaboriau

... back the northern main, And all around, the ever restless waves, Like white sea-wolves, howl on the lonely sands, Clings a low roof, close by the sounding surge. If, in your summer rambles by the shore, His spray-tost cottage you may chance espy, Enter and ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 8, Issue 49, November, 1861 • Various

... was made such an ordinance afore by Merlin, that there should no man of war ride nor go in no country on this side Trent water, but if he had a token from King Arthur, where through the king's enemies durst not ride as they did to-fore to espy. ...
— Le Morte D'Arthur, Volume I (of II) - King Arthur and of his Noble Knights of the Round Table • Thomas Malory

... made, fast by the tower's wall, A garden faire, and in the corners set An arbour green with wandis long and small Railed about, and so with leaves beset Was all the place, and hawthorn hedges knet, That lyf was none, walking there forbye, That might within scarce any wight espy. So thick the branches and the leave's green Beshaded all the alleys that there were. And midst of every harbour might be seen The sharpe, green, sweet juniper, Growing so fair with branches here and there, That as it seemed ...
— Windsor Castle • William Harrison Ainsworth

... of Richardson was once turned to account by Sheridan in a very characteristic manner. Having had a hackney-coach in employ for five or six hours, and not being provided with the means of paying it, he happened to espy Richardson in the street, and proposed to take him in the coach some part of his way. The offer being accepted, Sheridan lost no time in starting a subject of conversation, on which he knew his companion was sure to become argumentative and animated. Having, by well-managed ...
— Memoirs of the Life of Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan Vol 2 • Thomas Moore

... through the palace yard, on the way to the carriage, you espy through an open door a splendid room fitted with paraphernalia not associated with medieval pastimes. It is the Maharajah's billiard-room, sumptuously furnished, and filled with tables of ...
— East of Suez - Ceylon, India, China and Japan • Frederic Courtland Penfield

... fortunately at home; and after a very brief interval, made his appearance, entering with a short professional bow to me, and a very profound one to the lady, in whom his quick gray eye seemed intuitively to espy a client. As soon as he was seated, I handed him Sir Jasper's letter. He perused it carefully three times, examined the seal attentively, and handed it back with—"An excellent letter as far as it goes, and very much to the point. You intend, I suppose, that I ...
— The Experiences of a Barrister, and Confessions of an Attorney • Samuel Warren

... likely to attack us in revenge, unless they had been scared by the rifles and by the size of our party. They advised me not to remain long in this spot, as it would be very dangerous for my wife to be left almost alone during the day, when we were hunting, and that the Base would be certain to espy us from the mountains, and would most probably attack and carry her off when they were assured of our departure. She was not very nervous about this, but she immediately called the dragoman, Mahomet, who knew the use of a gun, and she asked him if he would stand by her in case they were attacked ...
— Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol 3 • Various

... enjoying the balmy evening. Here six or eight midgets were jumping the rope, while papa and mamma swung it for them. Pretty little things, with their flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes, how they did seem to enjoy themselves! What parent was ever far from home that did not espy in every group of children his own little ones—his Mary or his Nelly, his Henry or Charlie? So it was with me. There was a ring of twenty or thirty singing and dancing, with a smaller ring in the centre, while old folks and boys stood outside. But I heard not a single oath, nor saw a rough ...
— Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands V2 • Harriet Beecher Stowe

... and lo, How small the biggest parts of earth's proud title shew! Where shall I find the noble British land? Lo, I at last a northern speck espy, Which in the sea does lie, And seems a grain o' the sand. For this will any sin, or bleed? Of civil wars is this the meed? And is it this, alas, which we, Oh, irony of words! do ...
— Stories from the Italian Poets: With Lives of the Writers, Volume 1 • Leigh Hunt

... Philip, as he paced beside the sure-footed beast, who leisurely picked his way along the familiar road. "The moon will be up, to be sure, ere long; but it is ill travelling in the night. It is well to get clear of this neighbourhood in the dark, for fear your father might chance to espy you and make your going difficult. Yet I would have you ask shelter for your steed and yourself tonight at the little hostelry you will find just this side Hammerton Heath. The heath is an ill place for travellers, ...
— The Lost Treasure of Trevlyn - A Story of the Days of the Gunpowder Plot • Evelyn Everett-Green

... then, and then only, you shall be welcome." But before we had proceeded a rood farther towards the west, we heard a buzz amongst the princes above, and every one, great and small, seized his arms, and proceeded to harness himself as if for battle; and before we had time to espy a place to flee to, the whole air became dark, and the city was more deeply over-shadowed than during an eclipse; the thunder began to roar, and the lightnings to dart forkedly, and a ceaseless shower of mortal arrows, was directed from the gates below, against the catholic ...
— The Sleeping Bard - or, Visions of the World, Death, and Hell • Ellis Wynne

... do you look in that direction, towards yourselves, since you cannot discover the crow, if perchance you may be able to espy the vultures. (THEUROPIDES turns towards SIMO.) Now do you ...
— The Captiva and The Mostellaria • Plautus

... with altered voice, said she— 'Off, wandering mother! Peak and pine! 205 I have power to bid thee flee.' Alas! what ails poor Geraldine? Why stares she with unsettled eye? Can she the bodiless dead espy? And why with hollow voice cries she, 210 'Off, woman, off! this hour is mine— Though thou her guardian spirit be, Off, woman, off! ...
— The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Vol I and II • Samuel Taylor Coleridge

... in the distant horizon: they now unfold themselves on either side, forming as it were a double amphitheatre. The sun bursts through the clouds, and gilds alternately the shrubs and meadows on the distant shores, and we now espy the tops of two masts of ships just peeping above the surface of the deep. What an awful warning to adventurous men! We now sail close by those very sands (the Goodwin) where so many unfortunate persons ...
— Travels in England in 1782 • Charles P. Moritz

... after having spent all, was forced to go to sea again to seek his fortune. He set forth towards the coast of Campechy, his common rendezvous: fifteen days after his arrival, he put himself into a canoe to espy the port of that city, and see if he could rob any Spanish vessel; but his fortune was so bad, that both he and all his men were taken and carried before the governor, who immediately cast them into a dungeon, intending to hang them every one; and doubtless he had done so, but for a ...
— The Pirates of Panama • A. O. (Alexandre Olivier) Exquemelin

... headyng: for they thought it a double offence. One in regarde of conscience not kept toward God, and an other in gyuynge occasion to destroy credite among men, whiche is the chiefest bonde of their felowship. If any wayfarying man shuld espy a man sette vppon with thieues, or otherwyse to be wronged, and dyd not to his power succour and ayde hym, he was gyltie of death. If he ware not able to succour and to reskewe hym, then was he bounde to vtter the thieues, and to prosecute the matter ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries - Vol. II • Richard Hakluyt

... espy,"' he quoted presently, "'virtue and valour crouched in thine eye.' And yet.., and yet... if I had cause to think it true, I'd... I'd run you through the vitals—jus' so," and he prodded Richard's waistcoat with the point of his pipe-stem. His swarthy face darkened, his eyes glittered ...
— Mistress Wilding • Rafael Sabatini

... prophetic, sees her stand, Forsaken, silent Lady, on the strand Of farthest India, sickening at the war Of waves slow-beating, dull upon the shore Stretching, at gloomy intervals, her eye O'er the wide waters vainly to espy The long-expected bark, in which to find Some tidings of a ...
— The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Vol. 5 • Edited by E. V. Lucas

... every means she'd take, And a pudding large did for him make; But in trying to obtain a sip, Into the batter did he slip! The batter in the pot went plump; Tom made the pudding skip and jump! His mother, with affright, did this espy, And gave it to a tinker passing by; Tom scream'd so loud, that, in dismay, He threw ...
— An Entertaining History of Tom Thumb - William Raine's Edition • Unknown

... quite shut in by an overgrowth of bushes. Mavis, sorry to lose the sunlight, if only for a few minutes, was yet pleased at exploring this mysterious waterway. Now and again, where the water had collected in wide pools, she had, with Perigal's assistance, to make use of stepping stones, to espy which was often difficult. They picked their way down and down for quite a long time, till Mavis began to wonder if they would ever discover an outlet. When, at last, the passage was seen to emerge into a blaze ...
— Sparrows - The Story of an Unprotected Girl • Horace W. C. Newte

... saw a boy with eager eye Open a book upon a stall, And read, as he'd devour it all; Which, when the stall-man did espy, Soon to the boy I heard him call, "You, sir, you never buy a book, Therefore in one you shall not look." The boy passed slowly on, and with a sigh He wished he never had been taught to read, Then of the old churl's books he ...
— Life and Literature - Over two thousand extracts from ancient and modern writers, - and classified in alphabetical order • J. Purver Richardson

... she called out louder yet, until he in his weakness faintly heard her, and wondered who could be calling him. [427] He heard the voice and heard his name pronounced, but he did not know who was calling him: he thinks it must be a spirit. He looks all about him to see, I suppose, if he could espy any one; but there is nothing to be seen but the tower and himself. "God," says he, "what is that I heard? I heard some one speak, but see nothing! Indeed, this is passing marvellous, for I am not asleep, but wide awake. Of course, if this happened in a dream, I should consider ...
— Four Arthurian Romances - "Erec et Enide", "Cliges", "Yvain", and "Lancelot" • Chretien de Troyes

... a huge stone is sometimes seen to lie Couched on the bald top of an eminence; Wonder to all who do the same espy, By what means it could thither come, and whence, So that it seems a thing endued with sense; Like a sea-beast crawled forth, that on a shelf Of rock or sand ...
— Health and Education • Charles Kingsley

... craft drawing in on our right and left, and I later learned that, while we waited, the canoes were forming about the ship a circle of hostile spears. But it then seemed at every moment as if the man who was leaning on the taffrail must espy us,—it always is hard for the person in the dark, who sees what is near the light, to realize that he himself remains invisible,—and a ...
— The Mutineers • Charles Boardman Hawes

... nor vow, nor promise much, An honest Heart needs none of this Parade; Its Sense steals softly to the list'ning Ear, And Love, like a rich Jewel we most value, When we ourselves by Chance espy its Blaze And none proclaims where we may find the Prize. Mistake me not, I don't impeach your Honour, Nor think you undeserving my Esteem; When our Hands join you may repeat your Love, But save these ...
— Ponteach - The Savages of America • Robert Rogers

... jaded eye Their destined provinces espy. Long through the hills their way they took, Long camped beside the mountain brook; 'Tis over; now with rising hope They pause upon the downward slope, And as their aching bones they rest, Their ...
— Moral Emblems • Robert Louis Stevenson

... heaviness of character. There are many flashes of wit; but the author has beaten his flint hard ere he struck them out. It is almost essential to the success of a jest, that it should at least seem to be extemporaneous. If we espy the joke at a distance, nay, if without seeing it we have the least reason to suspect we are travelling towards one, it is astonishing how the perverse obstinacy of our nature delights to refuse it currency. ...
— The Dramatic Works of John Dryden Vol. I. - With a Life of the Author • Sir Walter Scott

... trembles the bridge, The huntsman bounds on by the dizzying ridge. Undaunted he hies him O'er ice-covered wild, Where leaf never budded, Nor Spring ever smiled; And beneath him an ocean of mist, where his eye No longer the dwellings of man can espy; Through the parting clouds only The earth can be seen; Far down 'neath the vapor ...
— The German Classics of The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Vol. III • Kuno Francke (Editor-in-Chief)

... noble face we espy, 'Tis a boy of ten years we shall find; There's a spice of the rogue in that merry young eye, With good sense and good ...
— The Kings and Queens of England with Other Poems • Mary Ann H. T. Bigelow

... chance to be in him, possessed of the power of extinguishing it for ever, with no trace remaining, no hope that it ever will spring into being again—would we not rather lose riches, tranquillity, health even, and many years of our life, than this strange faculty which none can espy, and we ourselves can scarcely define? Not less intangible, not less elusive, is the sweetness of tender friendship, of a dear recollection we cling to and reverence; and countless other thoughts and feelings, that traverse no mountain, dispel no cloud, that do not even dislodge a grain ...
— The Buried Temple • Maurice Maeterlinck

... cart-shed, and his brother and sister make pretence, to tear him limb from limb. Zadkiel defends himself gallantly, but has to succumb at last, for he is fairly rolled on his back, and in a few minutes is, figuratively speaking, turned inside out. Then they espy the good-natured admiring face of their mother, peering at them over the corner of the straw, and at her they all rush. They make believe that she is a fox, and her life is accordingly ...
— Little Folks (Septemeber 1884) - A Magazine for the Young • Various

... the sound. Above a hedge below the lawn an apple-tree raised its branches. Within them he could espy a dark mass that as he approached ...
— Once Aboard The Lugger • Arthur Stuart-Menteth Hutchinson

... slacken their speed, and all at once came to a dead halt! Had they already discovered their prey? In an instant their fears were relieved on this score. From their marshy lair they were able, imperfectly, to espy the foe, and they saw that the cause of halting was simply to water their panting steeds. They could also make out to hear the enemy's voice, and so far as they could gather, the subject was enough to inspire them with terror, for the escaped prisoner was evidently ...
— An Historical Account of the Settlements of Scotch Highlanders in America • J. P. MacLean

... joyful screams into the tepid surf. The population must have increased not a little since those days, nearly a century ago, when the unhappy Shelley could find peace and solitude in his darkest hours of unrest upon these shores, where it would be well-nigh impossible for a twentieth-century poet to espy a retreat for soothing his soul in verse. Yet somehow, during the drowsy noontide rest when the active life of the South ceases, if only for an hour or so, it is still possible to catch the spirit in which that melancholy ...
— The Naples Riviera • Herbert M. Vaughan

... Still cease from friendship when they cease from drink. The empty fop who scarce for man will pass, Ne'er sees a friend but when he views his glass. Friendship first springs from sympathy of mind, Which to complete the virtues all combine, And only found 'mongst men who can espy The merits of his friend without envy. Thus all pretending friendship's but a dream, Whose base is ...
— For Auld Lang Syne • Ray Woodward

... disenchantment came, his blood was already poisoned; his very being was eaten into by doubt, and almost to the very end of his days Turgenef remained a fatalistic sceptic, a godless pessimist; not till his old age did he espy the promised land. It was only when he witnessed with his own eyes the boundless self-sacrifice of the revolutionists, when the old man was moved by the heroism of the young Sophie Bardine even to the kissing of the very sheet upon which ...
— Lectures on Russian Literature - Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenef, Tolstoy • Ivan Panin

... in a meadow by the river's side, A flock of nymphs I chanced to espy, All lovely daughters of the flood thereby, With goodly greenish locks all loose untied As each had been a bride; And each one had a little wicker basket Made of fine twigs, entrailed curiously, In which they gather'd flowers to fill their flasket, And with fine ...
— The Golden Treasury - Of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language • Various

... after a moment's pause, "and I wish you to redeem your word by remaining here till I return. I care not to trust the faith of those idle soldiers, who, perchance, think they have done enough of duty to-day, and your keener eyes may keep a closer watch on the landing place, and sooner espy the motions of the enemy, who still hold their ...
— The Rivals of Acadia - An Old Story of the New World • Harriet Vaughan Cheney

... one of those wretches who are engaged in this nefarious commerce were brought before the Supreme Court, and being convicted, should be asked by the Judge, whether he had aught to say why sentence of death should not be pronounced upon him? And suppose the culprit should espy some of his sable victims in court, whom he knew had made a profession of faith, and he should boldly reply—'May it please your Honor, I abducted these people away from their homes, it is true; but they were poor, miserable, benighted idolators, and must have inevitably remained ...
— Thoughts on African Colonization • William Lloyd Garrison

... achieve it. He rode until that he came at evensong to a hold that was in the midst of the forest. And it was compassed about of a great water, and had about it great clumps of trees so as that scarce with much pains might he espy the hall, that was right large. The river that compassed it about was water royal, for it lost not its right name nor its body as far as the sea. And Messire Gawain bethought him that it was the hold of a worshipful man, and draweth him thitherward to lodge. And as he drew ...
— High History of the Holy Graal • Unknown

... The shot did not alter his position—as the horn still held on to the branch—but the animal ceased struggling and hung down dead,—to remain there, doubtless, until some hungry vulture should espy him from afar, and, swooping down, strip the flesh ...
— The Boy Hunters • Captain Mayne Reid

... commission with Cuthbert Tunstall, whose virtue and learning be of more excellency than that I am able to praise them. And whiles I was abiding at Antwerp, oftentimes among other did visit me one Peter Gyles, a citizen thereof, whom one day I chanced to espy talking with a stranger, with whom he brought me to speech. Which Raphael Hythloday had voyaged with Master Amerigo Vespucci, but parting from him had seen many lands, and so returned home by way ...
— The World's Greatest Books—Volume 14—Philosophy and Economics • Various

... youths accompany him with their play-clubs, and that was a third of the boy-troop of Ulster. The army saw them drawing near them over the plain. "A great army approaches us over the plain," spake Ailill Fergus goes to espy them. "Some of the youths of Ulster are they," said he, "and it is to succour Cuchulain they come." "Let a troop go to meet them," said Ailill, "unknown to Cuchulain; for if they unite with him ye will never overcome them." Thrice fifty warriors ...
— The Ancient Irish Epic Tale Tain Bo Cualnge • Unknown

... call me heretical? who dares call me rabbi? who dares call me Scotus? Spider! spider! yea, thou hast one corner left; I espy thee, and my broom shall ...
— Citation and Examination of William Shakspeare • Walter Savage Landor

... am talking here that serpent! that copperhead! that cobra capella! is coming round again! How astonishingly tenacious of life all foul, venomous creatures are!" exclaimed Cloudesley, as he happened to espy Throg moving slightly where he lay, and rushed out to ...
— The Missing Bride • Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth

... notes, and especially the small notes, which they distribute, entirely supply the demand for a medium of currency; and that the system has so completely expelled gold from the country of Scotland, that you never by any chance espy a guinea there, unless in the purse of an accidental stranger, or in the coffers of these Banks themselves. This is granting the facts of the case as broadly as ...
— Political Pamphlets • George Saintsbury

... nations;(555) that law, which was enacted by Europe for its own emolument, to the prejudice of the other three parts of the globe, and which bestows the property of whole realms on the first person who happens to espy them, who can annex them to the crown of Great Britain, in lieu of those it has lost beyond ...
— Letters of Horace Walpole, V4 • Horace Walpole

... sad and careful heart, to consider of the nature and largeness of my sin, and to search in the Word of God, if I could in any place espy a word of promise, or any encouraging sentence by which I might take relief. Wherefore I began to consider that third of Mark, All manner of sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, wherewith soever they shall blaspheme. Which place, methought, at ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... is done, it is done, My warfare, my friends, it is done; I go to that Spirit, whose form in the sky, So oft we have seen in the cloud-garnished sun, So oft in dread lightning espy. ...
— The Myth of Hiawatha, and Other Oral Legends, Mythologic and Allegoric, of the North American Indians • Henry R. Schoolcraft

... strange to think, how sound, and clear, and distinct a man's judgment will be against those evils in others, which yet he seeth not in himself, how many Christians will be able to decipher the nature of some vices, and unbowel the evils of them, and be quick-sighted to espy the least appearance of them in another, and to condemn it, and yet so partial are they in judging themselves,—self-love so purblinds them in this reflection, that they cannot discern that in themselves, which ...
— The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning • Hugh Binning

... on all those fells. One of my lambs, lying in a stranger's arms! A careless shepherd I! I must have been asleep or dreaming ... dreaming foolish dreams about that cottage, on which the sun might shine unheeded now, I cared not for it, being full of other thoughts. No sooner did I espy the brand on the lamb than I rose to my feet, and, even as I ran nimbly down the slope towards the stranger, my eyes roamed over the hillside to discover which of my lambs had strayed:—Rosamond, Cowslip, Eglantine and Gillyflower—I ...
— A Book of Quaker Saints • Lucy Violet Hodgkin

... sayd, Aurora blushes euery morne, For feare that Titan should her fault espy, And blushes so did Hirens cheekes adorne, Fearing least Mahomet perceiu'd her eye. Louers are blind, and what could he espy. No, twas the hidden vertue of that kisse, That her chast lips were nere vs'd to beforne, That did vnframe ...
— Seven Minor Epics of the English Renaissance (1596-1624) • Dunstan Gale

... wherefore he arrived there so late that, the gates being shut and the draw-bridges raised, he could get no admission. Thereupon, despairing and disconsolate, he looked about, weeping, for a place where he might shelter, so at the least it should not snow upon him, and chancing to espy a house that projected somewhat beyond the walls of the town, he determined to go bide thereunder till day. Accordingly, betaking himself thither, he found there a door, albeit it was shut, and gathering at foot thereof somewhat of straw that was therenigh, he laid ...
— The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio • Giovanni Boccaccio

... rehearsing the old trick of sending a fly into a particular leaf. Ah! little mare Brownie, what are you doing? Did you never before see a charred stump that you should shy so? Do you fancy that you are a thoroughbred that you should bolt at such a gentle touch of the spur? So you espy the half-way house, do you, and fancy that fifteen miles, up and down, in a trifle under two hours, has earned you a spell, a bit of a feed, and something of a washing? And you are right. Take charge, Mr. Blackfellow-ostler, and while ...
— Lines in Pleasant Places - Being the Aftermath of an Old Angler • William Senior

... daybreak the herd moved on again, climbing ever higher in the mountains, the three men lay flat on Badshah's back and covered themselves with their grey blankets lest vigilant watchers on the peaks around might espy them. Thus do the mahouts of the koonkies, or trained female elephants employed in hunting and snaring wild tuskers, conceal themselves ...
— The Jungle Girl • Gordon Casserly

... Whom she did brood and dote upon. Oh! if there be a mortal ear My sorrowful complaint to hear; If manly breast is ever stirred By wrong done to a helpless bird, To them for quick redress I cry." Moved by the tale, and drawing nigh, On alder branch thou didst espy How, sitting lonely and forlorn, His breast was pressed upon a thorn, Unknowing that he leant thereon; Then bidding him take heart again, Thou rannest down into the lane To seek the doer of this wrong, Nor under ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXIII No. 1 July 1848 • Various

... the judges advised, for that he was a foreigner, and condemned, and a few days after executed at Tyburn; where he did again openly read his confession, and take it upon his death to be true. This was the end of this little cockatrice of a king that was able to destroy those that did not espy him first. It was one of the longest plays of that kind that had been in memory, and might perhaps have had another end if he had not met with a king wise, stout, ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 8 - The Later Renaissance: From Gutenberg To The Reformation • Editor-in-Chief: Rossiter Johnson

... of mortal mould, my mind Feels more than passion's mortal glow. Ere up to you, bright orbs, I fly, Or to Love's bower speed down my way, While here my mouldering limbs remain; Let me her pity once espy; Thus, rich in bliss, one little day Shall recompense whole years of pain. Be Laura mine at set of sun; Let heaven's fires only mark our loves, And the day ne'er its light renew; My fond embrace may she not shun; Nor Phoebus-like, through laurel groves, May I a nymph transform'd ...
— The Sonnets, Triumphs, and Other Poems of Petrarch • Petrarch

... walked in the market-place, she used to like to look at the notary's house, and at him, if she could espy him in the street. The house was a fine one, and the notary, in spite of iron-grey hair and a keen eye, good-looking; but that was not why Marie was interested; it was because he and his office seemed connected with the romance ...
— A Dozen Ways Of Love • Lily Dougall

... 'Lena had entered the parlor in time to hear every word, and when Carrie, chancing to espy her, held out the letter, saying, "Here, Helleny, I guess this came from down east," she darted forward, and striking the letter from Carrie's hands stamped upon it with her foot, declaring "she'd never open it in the ...
— 'Lena Rivers • Mary J. Holmes

... fail of his design. When they had made this compact and covenant with trim, the king honoured them with the highest honours and presently retired to his own apartments. But the officers deserted him and the troops refused their service and would neither mount nor dismount until they should espy what might befal, for they saw that most of the army was with the Wazir Dandan. Presently, the news of these things came to Kuzia Fakan and caused her much concern; so that she sent for the old woman who was wont to carry messages between her and her cousin, and when she came, bade her ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 3 • Richard F. Burton

... Fruterer shall soone espy their lodging by their web, or the decay of leaues eaten around about them. And being seene, they are easily destroyed with your hand, or rather (if your tree may spare it) take sprig and all: for the red peckled butterfly doth euer put them, being her sparm, among the tender spraies for better ...
— A New Orchard And Garden • William Lawson

... Wiltshire, on the first day of May, 1647. It continued from about eleven o'clock (or before) till twelve. It was a very clear day; but few did take notice of it, because it was so near the sun-beams. My mother happened to espy it, going to see what o'clock it was by an horizontal dial; and then all the servants saw it. Upon the like occasion, Mr. J. Sloper, B.D. vicar there, saw it, and all his family; and the servants of Sir George Vaughan, (then of Falston) who were hunting on the downs, saw ...
— Miscellanies upon Various Subjects • John Aubrey

... fill of her." Cried Obayd, "May Allah requite thee for me with all good, O my lord!" and taking the key, went up, rejoicing. The other thought his words had pleased him and that he consented thereto; so he took the sword and following him unseen, stood to espy what should happen between him and his wife. This is how it fared with the merchant Abd al-Rahman; but as for the jeweller, when he came to the chamber door, he heard his wife weeping with sore ...
— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 9 • Richard F. Burton

... mountain, spread with heath, and desolate, but near our house the valleys cove, and open warmth and shelter. Here are trees, and bright green grass, and orchards full of contentment, and a man may scarce espy the brook, although he hears it everywhere. And indeed a stout good piece of it comes through our farm-yard, and swells sometimes to a rush of waves, when the clouds are on the hill-tops. But all below, where the valley bends, and the Lynn stream comes along ...
— Lorna Doone - A Romance of Exmoor • R. D. Blackmore

... sweet reflection shine? Where do we finer strokes and colours see Of the Creator's real poetry, Than when we with attention look Upon the third day's volume of the book? If we could open and intend our eye, We all like Moses should espy Even in a bush the radiant Deity. But we despise these his inferior ways Though no less full of miracle and praise; Upon the flowers of heaven we gaze, The stars of earth no wonder in us raise, Though ...
— Cowley's Essays • Abraham Cowley

... in this shade for ever lye, And seeing thy fair Clorins Cabin, dye: 0 hapless love, which [being] answer'd, ends; And as a little infant cryes and bends His tender Brows, when rowling of his eye He hath espy'd some thing that glisters nigh Which he would have, yet give it him, away He throws it straight, and cryes afresh to play With something else: such my affection, set On that which I should ...
— The Faithful Shepherdess - The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher (Vol. 2 of 10). • Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher

... methinks thou longest to espy Near ocean's marge the place where he doth lie. Gaze without fear. But when the traveller stern, Who from this roof is parted, shall return, Advancing still as I the signal give, To serve each ...
— The Seven Plays in English Verse • Sophocles

... of the same problem has been presented in Plus Fort que le Mal, a book written in dramatic form (though not as a properly constituted play intended for the stage) by a distinguished French medical author who here adopts the name of Espy de Metz. The author (who is not, however, pleading pro domo) calls for a more sympathetic attitude towards those who suffer from syphilis, and though he writes with much less dramatic skill than Brieux, and scarcely presents his moral in so unequivocal a form, his work ...
— Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 6 (of 6) • Havelock Ellis

... was heard in the shrubbery; the flashing barrel of a rifle was then seen, and it seemed as though the fleet-footed chamois appeared on the heights above. But they were Tyrolese sharpshooters who had climbed up to the watch-towers of their natural fortresses to espy the enemy and on his appearance to welcome him with the bullets of ...
— Andreas Hofer • Lousia Muhlbach

... well as himself, his curiosity drew him unconsciously farther off than he intended to go. At last, having seen the Parsee carnival wind away in the distance, he was turning his steps towards the station, when he happened to espy the splendid pagoda on Malabar Hill, and was seized with an irresistible desire to see its interior. He was quite ignorant that it is forbidden to Christians to enter certain Indian temples, and that even the faithful must not go in without first leaving ...
— Around the World in 80 Days • Jules Verne

... Zone you espy a town of two-story skeleton screened buildings scattered over hills, with winding gravel roads and trees and flowers between there you may be sure live American "gold" employees. Yet somehow the Canal Commission had dodged the monotony you expected, somehow they have broken up the grim lines that ...
— Zone Policeman 88 - A Close Range Study of the Panama Canal and its Workers • Harry A. Franck

... instead of baggage, and my boyish mind was filled at the time with incredulity and scorn. In the present case it was a thing that I understood to involve the most hideous confessions of imbecility on my part, because I had evidently to go out to some obscure point and espy it and claim it, and take trouble for it; and I would rather have had my pockets filled with bread and cheese, and had no ...
— Men, Women, and Boats • Stephen Crane

... we were not left quiet. The beating of gongs, shouts, and an occasional shot, gave life to the scene. With my glass I could espy our forces at the top of the hill, pleased no doubt to see us coming to their support. At night loud shouts and firing from the rebels caused us to prepare for an attack; but it proved to be nothing but lights moving about the hill-side, with what intent we were ignorant. The jungle on ...
— The Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido - For the Suppression of Piracy • Henry Keppel

... the lawyer's behaviour. No sooner did Ocock espy him than up he rushed, brandishing the note that had been got to him early that morning—and now his eyes looked like little dabs of pitch in his chalk-white face, and his manner, stripped of its veneer, let the ...
— Australia Felix • Henry Handel Richardson

... eyelids closed, that is, their shutters up, all except one establishment, garishly lighted and of defiantly rakish, appearance, with the words Cafe Chantant written up in jets of gas; and within this Cafe, as we jolt along, I espy a dame du comptoir, a weary waiter, and two or three second-class, flashy-looking customers, drinking, smoking, perhaps arguing, at all events, gesticulating, which, with the low-class Frenchmen, comes to much the same thing in the end, the ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 101, September 5, 1891 • Various

... on, "is your country. Find it out—bring back to me examples of its soil, its products, its vegetable and animal life. Espy out especially for us any strange animals there may be of which science has not yet account. I hold it probable that there may be yonder living examples of the mastodon, whose bones we have found in Kentucky. You yourself ...
— The Magnificent Adventure - Being the Story of the World's Greatest Exploration and - the Romance of a Very Gallant Gentleman • Emerson Hough

... Comedy, were known long before the Greeks knew them. (Dionysus was the patron and protector of theatres.) "The purport of the song was that Bacchus imparted his secret of the cultivation of vines to a petty prince in Attica, named Icarius, who happened one day to espy a goat brouzing upon his plantations, immediately seized, and offered it up as a sacrifice to his divine benefactor; the peasants assembled round their master, assisted in the ceremony, and expressed their joy and gratitude in music, songs, dances, and Pantomime on the ...
— A History of Pantomime • R. J. Broadbent

... stealing out of a back door and scudding across snowy fields lest her mother should espy her and stop her. But Rebecca had not come to the door, although Rose had stood there a long time ...
— Pembroke - A Novel • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

... tearing each other to pieces—a particularly popular form of 'Sport' in old Madras; and, although the Directors in London appropriately forbade to their employees the use of cards or the dice-box, we can espy a tense-visaged quartet within the shadow of the pavilion with a 'pool' of 'fanams' (coins worth about 2-1/2d.) on the table, or possibly, rupees or pagodas, absorbed in a round of ombre or one of the other card games that were ...
— The Story of Madras • Glyn Barlow

... which brave Arthur kept his royal court. North-east, not far from this great pool, there lies A tract of beechy mountains, that arise, With leisurely ascending, to such height As from their tops the warlike Isle of Wight You in the ocean's bosom may espy, Though near two furlongs thence it lie. The pleasant way, as up those hills you climb, Is strewed o'er with marjoram and thyme, Which grows unset. The hedgerows do not want The cowslip, violet, primrose, nor a plant That freshly scents: as birch, both green and tall; Low sallows, ...
— Pastoral Poems by Nicholas Breton, - Selected Poetry by George Wither, and - Pastoral Poetry by William Browne (of Tavistock) • Nicholas Breton, George Wither, William Browne (of Tavistock)

... the little church which Mitri served. Afraid of interruption he looked round uneasily. But no one was in sight, and he was loth to move. He opened his sketch-book for a suggestion of employment in case any one should espy him, and returned ...
— The Valley of the Kings • Marmaduke Pickthall

... be lawgivers; that is, the boldest lyric inspiration should not chide and insult, but should announce and lead the civil code and the day's work. But now the two things seem irreconcilably parted. We have violated law upon law until we stand amidst ruins, and when by chance we espy a coincidence between reason and the phenomena, we are surprised. Beauty should be the dowry of every man and woman, as invariably as sensation; but it is rare. Health or sound organization should ...
— Essays, First Series • Ralph Waldo Emerson

... westward; and appearing, as far as we could see, completely to surround it. Along the whole line of this reef the sea was breaking with such violence as to render all approach dangerous; neither could we espy any break or opening in it, through which to reach the shore. Towards this foaming barrier the current was rapidly bearing us, and we were too feeble to struggle long against its force. To permit ourselves to be carried upon the reef would ...
— The Island Home • Richard Archer

... the top of that tree-clad hill I go, And towards my father I gaze, Till with my mind's eye his form I espy, And my mind's ear hears how he says:— "Alas for my son on service abroad! He rests not from morning till eve. May he careful be and come back to me! While he is ...
— Chinese Literature • Anonymous

... man with half an eye What stands before him can espy; But optics sharp it needs, I ween, To see what is not ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 88, February, 1865 • Various

... hustle down with every breath of air, and the hollows are knee-deep with painted leaves, has joys the eager tongue trips over itself in the endeavor to recount. Boy and Boy's mother took the six o'clock train to town last night. This morning, throwing open the parlor blinds, I espy the six flat, white beans and the three red-speckled crab-apples. They were so much to the owner; except for the value imparted by association with the dancing blue eyes and the tight clutch of fingers ...
— The Secret of a Happy Home (1896) • Marion Harland

... could now see him more distinctly, and he was truly a pitiable object, with his ragged black coat and trousers, through the rents in which you could espy his scraggy limbs. Underneath a black cloth cap, which was drawn low over his brows, as though he were afraid of being recognised, could be seen two large brown eyes, gleaming with peculiar softness in his otherwise stern ...
— The Fat and the Thin • Emile Zola

... readers who might be tempted to espy in this interpellation of Gavroche's to the baker a Russian or a Polish word, or one of those savage cries which the Yoways and the Botocudos hurl at each other from bank to bank of a river, athwart the solitudes, are warned that it is a word ...
— Les Miserables - Complete in Five Volumes • Victor Hugo

... hedgerow to the wood below. The occurrence pleased him. He crawled out of the clump on the farther side, and proceeded to lay a train of raisins down the ditch of the hedge to the wood. He did not lay it right down to the wood lest some inquisitive gamekeeper might espy it. Then he returned with fine, red Indian caution to Erebus. They rode ...
— The Terrible Twins • Edgar Jepson

... on a wayside bank, Full prey to doubts and fears, When he did espy come trudging by A Pilgrim bent with years. His back was bowed and his step was slow, But his faith no years could bend, As he eagerly pressed to the rose-lit west And ...
— A line-o'-verse or two • Bert Leston Taylor

... some eight or ten carriages, which formed, as it were, a funeral cortege behind us. But I could perceive that these carriages were filled for the most part by young men, and that there was no contemporary of Crasweller to be seen at all. As we went up the town hill, I could espy Barnes gibbering on the doorstep of his house, and Tallowax brandishing a large knife in his hand, and Exors waving a paper over his head, which I well knew to be a copy of the Act of our Assembly; but I could only pretend not to see them ...
— The Fixed Period • Anthony Trollope

... in the depth of my sleep, I felt as if some intense eager look, like tapering fingers of flame, touched my slumbering body. I started up and saw the Hermit standing before me. The moon had moved to the west, peering through the leaves to espy this wonder of divine art wrought in a fragile human frame. The air was heavy with perfume; the silence of the night was vocal with the chirping of crickets; the reflections of the trees hung motionless ...
— Chitra - A Play in One Act • Rabindranath Tagore

... been, out there. Returning she lost more by meeting old Joy in the narrow way between the house and the edge of the texas roof, and when at length she sprang away for the after end of the texas and the only stair she was now sure of, whom should she espy bound thither ahead of her but Mrs. Gilmore. In that order the three hurried down to the guards of the texas and forward along them ...
— Gideon's Band - A Tale of the Mississippi • George W. Cable

... to observe, not to feel, Not to fancy, if simple of eye One may be among images reaped For a shift of the glance, as grain: Profitless froth you espy Ashore after billows have leaped. I fled nothing, nothing pursued: The changeful visible face Of our Mother I sought for my food; Crumbs by the way to sustain. Her sentence I knew past grace. Myself I had lost of us twain, Once bound ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... was a page, a little fause page, Lord Ronald did espy, An' he has told his baron all, Where the hind and hart did lie. "It is na for thee, but thine, Lord Ronald, Thy father's deeds o' weir; But since the hind has come to my faul', His blood shall ...
— The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volumes I-VI. - The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century • Various

... Time hath not yet the features fixed, But brighter traits with evil mixed; And there are hues not always faded, Which speak a mind not all degraded Even by the crimes through which it waded: The common crowd but see the gloom Of wayward deeds, and fitting doom; The close observer can espy A noble soul, and lineage high: Alas! though both bestowed in vain, 870 Which Grief could change, and Guilt could stain, It was no vulgar tenement To which such lofty gifts were lent, And still with little ...
— The Works Of Lord Byron, Vol. 3 (of 7) • Lord Byron

... turn aside? Will she espy the dark form in the deep shade of the orange, and, with one piercing scream, wheel and vanish? She draws near. She approaches the jasmine; she raises her arms, the sleeves falling like a vapor down to the shoulders; rises upon tiptoe, and plucks a spray. O Memory! Can it be? Can it be? ...
— Madame Delphine • George W. Cable

... long can quell The bubbling flow of that perennial well; And so the youths and maidens soon regained The wonted gayety that late had fled. All save Winona, in whose face and mien, Unto the careless eye, no change was seen; But one that noted might sometimes espy A furtive fear that shot across her eye, As in a forest, 'thwart some bit of blue, Darts a rare bird that shuns the hunter's view. Her laugh, though gay, a subtle change confessed, And in her attitude a vague unrest Betrayed ...
— Indian Legends of Minnesota • Various

... oft he hath recited to his friends, That now himself persuades himself 'tis so. But why doth Crassus tell his lies so rife, Of bridges, towns, and things that have no life? He is a lawyer, and doth well espy That for such lies an ...
— The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 3 (of 3) • Christopher Marlowe

... leaning far over, she tried to espy the speakers. However, she could not see any one, though some passionate words reached her from below; Gontram, on the other hand, felt ...
— The Son of Monte-Cristo, Volume II (of 2) • Alexandre Dumas pere

... Turn we to Schools which more than these afford - The sound instruction and the wholesome board; And first our School for Ladies;—pity calls For one soft sigh, when we behold these walls, Placed near the town, and where, from window high, The fair, confined, may our free crowds espy, With many a stranger gazing up and down, And all the envied tumult of the town; May, in the smiling summer-eve, when they Are sent to sleep the pleasant hours away, Behold the poor (whom they conceive the bless'd) ...
— The Borough • George Crabbe

... discovered her there she felt that she would die of shame. Then she became aware that a blue jay was screeching in a pine above her, and a red squirrel somewhere near was chattering his shrill annoyance. These two denizens of the woods could be depended upon to espy the wariest hunter and make known his presence to their kind. Ellen had a moment of more than dread. This keen-eyed, keen-eared Indian might see right through her brushy covert, might hear the throbbing of her heart. It relieved her immeasurably to ...
— To the Last Man • Zane Grey

... them with chearefull entertayne. 1085 Thenceforth proceeding with his princely trayne, He shortly met the Tygre, and the Bore, Which with the simple Camell raged sore In bitter words, seeking to take occasion Upon his fleshly corpse to make invasion: 1090 But soone as they this mock-king did espy, Their troublous strife they stinted by and by, [Stinted by and by, stopped at once.] Thinking indeed that it the Lyon was. He then, to prove whether his powre would pas As currant, sent the Foxe to them streight way, 1095 Commaunding them their cause of ...
— The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume 5 • Edmund Spenser

... Farewell, my Lord, securely I espy Vertue with Valour, couched in thine eye: Order the ...
— The First Folio [35 Plays] • William Shakespeare

... be mentioned a plan {133} proposed by Mr. Espy of the United States of America, for remedying them by means of artificial rains. That gentleman says, that if a large body of heated air be made to ascend in a column, a large cloud will be generated, and that such cloud will contain in itself a self-sustaining power, ...
— The Rain Cloud - or, An Account of the Nature, Properties, Dangers and Uses of Rain • Anonymous

... not let us sacrifice or pour Libations undisturbed, but filled the camp With lamentations wild and blasphemous, Yelling in agony. Yet why dilate, On what has happened? We will stint our words; He may espy my presence, and my plan Of capturing him be ruined utterly. Now must thy part be done; look round and see Where is a rocky cave with double mouth, So formed that in the winter twice the sun Falls on the sitter, ...
— Specimens of Greek Tragedy - Aeschylus and Sophocles • Goldwin Smith



Words linked to "Espy" :   espial, sight, descry



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