eavesdrop
- to listen secretly to a private conversation.
- Archaic. to eavesdrop on.
- water that drips from the eaves.
- the ground on which such water falls.
Origin of eavesdrop
Examples from the Web for eavesdrop
Contemporary Examples of eavesdrop
NCIS managed to eavesdrop on phone calls Wright made to his mother, Valerie Burgess.
But the FSB has far more power to eavesdrop on Russian and foreign citizens than the FBI or the NSA.
Sorry, Snowden: Putin Lied to You About His Surveillance State—And Made You a Pawn of ItEli Lake
April 18, 2014
One of the most popular is the X-37B can sneak up and eavesdrop on other satellites.
A brilliant look into the lives of the 1980s East German Stasi (Secret Police) and the civilians they spy and eavesdrop on.
He was also a dead-on mimic, the kind of guy who could eavesdrop on a snatch of conversation and instantly spoof both ends.
Historical Examples of eavesdrop
Let us hope that Eavesdrop will sketch off Henbane, and that Henbane will poison him for his trouble.
Crotchet CastleThomas Love Peacock
With no desire to eavesdrop, Mr. Green could not avoid overhearing the conversation.
The Building of a BookVarious
So I judged I'd got to do the other thing—lay for them and eavesdrop.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, CompleteMark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
I said to him, 'It won't do, daddy, for you to eavesdrop at our doors.
A Family of NoblemenMikhal Saltykov
"You'd think there were better things to eavesdrop on than fishes," said Urson.
The Jewels of AptorSamuel R. Delany
eavesdrop
- (intr) to listen secretly to the private conversation of others
Word Origin for eavesdrop
Word Origin and History for eavesdrop
c.1600, probably a back-formation from eavesdropper. Related: Eavesdropping.