Definition of "espy" [es•py]

• To catch sight of (something distant, partially hidden, or obscure); glimpse. See Synonyms at see1. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The JWST, which unlike Hubble can make images in the infrared, could espy this initial burgeoning of stars and their homes -- the earliest galaxies."
• "Some elements of the gold market, the rabid goldbugs, do espy a very dark and broken future."
• "Whereupon I espy this Italian place I've never tried before."