unespied

unespied

English

Etymology

From Middle English unespied, onespied, unaspied, unaspyed, equivalent to un- +‎ espied.

Adjective

unespied (not comparable)

1. Not espied or having been espied; unseen, unnoticed.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.1:

     So did she steale his heedelesse hart away, / And joyd his love in secret unespyde [...].

   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost‎:

     Then from his lofty stand on that high tree Down he alights among the sportful herd Of those four-footed kinds, himself now one, Now other, as their shape served best his end Nearer to view his prey, and, unespied, To mark what of their state he more might learn, By word or action marked.

   • 1888, John Jewel, The Apology of the Church of England‎:

     Think they their sleights are not already perceived, and that they can walk now unespied, as though they had Gyges' ring, to go invisibly by, upon their finger?

   • 1910, Jean Froissart, Thomas Malory, Raphael Holinshed, Chronicle and Romance (The Harvard Classics Series)‎:

     The queen's majesty then living, being departed from his presence the next way toward her lodging, he following soon after happened to find her garter, which slacked by chance and so fell from her leg, unespied in the throng by such as attended upon her.