descry

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de·scry

(dĭ-skrī′)

tr.v. de·scried, de·scry·ing, de·scries

1. To catch sight of (something difficult to discern). See Synonyms at see¹.

2. To discover by careful observation or scrutiny; detect: descried a message of hope in her words.

[Middle English descrien, from Old French descrier, to call, cry out; see decry.]

de·scri′er n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

descry

(dɪˈskraɪ)

vb (tr) , -scries, -scrying or -scried

1. to discern or make out; catch sight of

2. to discover by looking carefully; detect

[C14: from Old French descrier to proclaim, decry]

deˈscrier n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

de•scry

(dɪˈskraɪ)

v.t. -scried, -scry•ing.

1. to see (something unclear) by looking carefully.

2. to discover; detect.

[1250–1300; < Old French de(s)crïer to proclaim, decry. See dis-¹, cry]

de•scri′er, n.

descry

Past participle: descried
Gerund: descrying

Imperative
descry
descry

Present
I descry
you descry
he/she/it descries
we descry
you descry
they descry

Preterite
I descried
you descried
he/she/it descried
we descried
you descried
they descried

Present Continuous
I am descrying
you are descrying
he/she/it is descrying
we are descrying
you are descrying
they are descrying

Present Perfect
I have descried
you have descried
he/she/it has descried
we have descried
you have descried
they have descried

Past Continuous
I was descrying
you were descrying
he/she/it was descrying
we were descrying
you were descrying
they were descrying

Past Perfect
I had descried
you had descried
he/she/it had descried
we had descried
you had descried
they had descried

Future
I will descry
you will descry
he/she/it will descry
we will descry
you will descry
they will descry

Future Perfect
I will have descried
you will have descried
he/she/it will have descried
we will have descried
you will have descried
they will have descried

Future Continuous
I will be descrying
you will be descrying
he/she/it will be descrying
we will be descrying
you will be descrying
they will be descrying

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been descrying
you have been descrying
he/she/it has been descrying
we have been descrying
you have been descrying
they have been descrying

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been descrying
you will have been descrying
he/she/it will have been descrying
we will have been descrying
you will have been descrying
they will have been descrying

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been descrying
you had been descrying
he/she/it had been descrying
we had been descrying
you had been descrying
they had been descrying

Conditional
I would descry
you would descry
he/she/it would descry
we would descry
you would descry
they would descry

Past Conditional
I would have descried
you would have descried
he/she/it would have descried
we would have descried
you would have descried
they would have descried

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Verb

descry - catch sight of

espy, spot, spy

sight, spy - catch sight of; to perceive with the eyes; "he caught sight of the king's men coming over the ridge"

descry

verb catch sight of, see, notice, mark, discover, sight, observe, recognize, distinguish, perceive, detect, make out, discern, behold, espy, spy out From the top of the hill I descried a solitary rider.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

descry

verb

1. To perceive and fix the identity of, especially with difficulty:

discern, distinguish, make out, pick out, spot.

2. To perceive, especially barely or fleetingly:

catch, detect, discern, espy, glimpse, spot, spy.

3. To perceive with a special effort of the senses or the mind:

detect, discern, distinguish, mark, mind, note, notice, observe, remark, see.

Translations

rozeznat

entdecken

apercevoir

descry

[dɪsˈkraɪ] VT (liter) → divisar

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

descry

vt (form, liter) → gewahren (geh), → erblicken

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

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References in classic literature ?

IT was a sight that some people remembered better even than their own sorrows--the sight in that grey clear morning, when the fatal cart with the two young women in it was descried by the waiting watching multitude, cleaving its way towards the hideous symbol of a deliberately inflicted sudden death.

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For several days they had been directing their march towards the lofty mountain descried by Mr.

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At the fleches Bennigsen stopped and began looking at the Shevardino Redoubt opposite, which had been ours the day before and where several horsemen could be descried. The officers said that either Napoleon or Murat was there, and they all gazed eagerly at this little group of horsemen.

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So soon as this figure had been first descried, Stubb had exclaimed -- That's he!

The whole calamity, with the falling form of Macey, was plainly descried from the ship.

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Having thus prepared all things as well as I was able, I set sail on the twenty-fourth day of September 1701, at six in the morning; and when I had gone about four-leagues to the northward, the wind being at south-east, at six in the evening I descried a small island, about half a league to the north-west.

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Elated with the success which had so far attended our enterprise, and invigorated by the refreshing atmosphere we now inhaled, Toby and I in high spirits were making our way rapidly along the ridge, when suddenly from the valleys below which lay on either side of us we heard the distant shouts of the natives, who had just descried us, and to whom our figures, brought in bold relief against the sky, were plainly revealed.

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In this happy flow of spirits, Mr Quilp reached Tower Hill, when, gazing up at the window of his own sitting-room, he thought he descried more light than is usual in a house of mourning.

Applying his eye to this convenient place, he descried Mr Brass seated at the table with pen, ink, and paper, and the case-bottle of rum--his own case-bottle, and his own particular Jamaica-- convenient to his hand; with hot water, fragrant lemons, white lump sugar, and all things fitting; from which choice materials, Sampson, by no means insensible to their claims upon his attention, had compounded a mighty glass of punch reeking hot; which he was at that very moment stirring up with a teaspoon, and contemplating with looks in which a faint assumption of sentimental regret, struggled but weakly with a bland and comfortable joy.

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From thence it is the storm of God's quick wrath is first descried, and the bow must bear the earliest brunt.

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Here, while on the march, he descried from the brow of a hill, a war party of about sixty Blackfeet, on the plain immediately below him.

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This stranger was walking up and down absorbed in the marked contemplation of the ship's fore and aft trim; but when I saw him squat on his heels in the slush at the very edge of the quay to peer at the draught of water under her counter, I said to myself, "This is the captain." And presently I descried his luggage coming along - a real sailor's chest, carried by means of rope-beckets between two men, with a couple of leather portmanteaus and a roll of charts sheeted in canvas piled upon the lid.