espy
verb (used with object)
to see at a distance; catch sight of.
had espied
-
past perfectof espy.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He took his powerful naval binoculars from their case and carefully focussed them on the dot which Rob's sharp eyes had espied at so great a distance.
From The Boy Scouts for Uncle Sam by John Henry Goldfrap
Hang back and starve with him, or hasten forward while they had strength, to the party whose track they had espied?
From The Story of the Trapper by A. C. Laut
Meanwhile Burek had espied a squirrel up a tree, and, standing before it looking upward, barked.
From Sielanka: An Idyll by Thomas H. Bullick
Gooster had had no thought of leaving the garden; he had espied a last bunch of grapes still hanging on the vine, and was going to get it; that was all.
From The Front Yard by Constance Fenimore Woolson
He had espied a gleam of dull yellow wedged in between the side of the split and a second rock.
From To Alaska for Gold The Fortune Hunters of the Yukon by Edward Stratemeyer
