What's the difference between spook and spy?

Spook


Definition:

  • (n.) A spirit; a ghost; an apparition; a hobgoblin.
  • (n.) The chimaera.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Top Gear, Robin Hood, Doctor Who, Primeval and Spooks were the company's top five highest-grossing shows sold internationally.
  • (2) Turning on the community suggests they are spooked by the growing support to protect our national treasures.
  • (3) But political corruption and the implacable opposition of the spooks and military to progressive change are the traditional forms of anti-democratic politics, in Britain, as elsewhere.
  • (4) Two witnesses said they thought the gorilla was trying to protect the boy at first, before getting spooked by the screams of onlookers.
  • (5) Backing the spooks against a left-leaning newspaper is, for a Tory prime minister, a no-brainer.
  • (6) Investors were also spooked by a chequered sales performance as breakneck growth stuttered at home and abroad.
  • (7) In the latest CIA coup, America's leading spooks have sent the Twittersphere into a frenzy with their chucklesome debut on social media: "We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet."
  • (8) She is, therefore, basically the Ruth Evershed (from Spooks) of the ancient world.
  • (9) The 'judge-led inquiry' that never was is shut down and investigating kidnap and torture in freedom's name will be left to a watchdog that never barks and which exonerated the spooks six years ago."
  • (10) If the only black people they see are the "looky looky" men on the beach selling fake watches then the idea of a black holidaymaker might spook them.
  • (11) "She has reinvented family drama in Doctor Who, Robin Hood and Merlin and launched acclaimed contemporary series such as Spooks and Life on Mars as well as Cranford.
  • (12) Any list of the decade's most memorable shows would be dominated by series that began in its early years: The Office, Spooks, Peep Show, The Thick of It, Shameless.
  • (13) Greece spooked investors for a third day running on Thursday as the Athens stock exchange fell 7.35% amid fears over the debt-stricken country’s future in the eurozone.
  • (14) If the desertion of some of their juniors has spooked Egypt's generals, they are being careful not to show it.
  • (15) In the technology world, a still-young and rapidly expanding business posting losses isn't unusual, and it's unlikely to spook many investors.
  • (16) The Daily Mail and the Spectator apparently don't care much if spooks routinely capture and comb all our emails and phone traffic.
  • (17) After our daughter left, my wife would sometimes go to her room – pictures of Spooks, etc – and cry.
  • (18) He is said to have entered the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit premises on 3 April and walked away on 5 April, spooked by the discovery that the fire escape door they had previously used had been locked in the interim.
  • (19) As the debate in ancient Westminster Hall wound on and the libertarians (security must not undermine basic freedoms) proved the better-briefed side, the spook faction got a bit dirty, as is their patriotic duty.
  • (20) That’s how Mussolini got in, that’s how Hitler got in: they took advantage of a situation, a problem perhaps, which humanity was going through at the time, after an economic crisis.” Peña Nieto’s pronouncements are the most forceful so far against Trump, whose rise to the top of the Republican primary races has spooked Mexicans of all social strata.

Spy


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To gain sight of; to discover at a distance, or in a state of concealment; to espy; to see.
  • (v. t.) To discover by close search or examination.
  • (v. t.) To explore; to view; inspect; and examine secretly, as a country; -- usually with out.
  • (v. i.) To search narrowly; to scrutinize.
  • (n.) One who keeps a constant watch of the conduct of others.
  • (n.) A person sent secretly into an enemy's camp, territory, or fortifications, to inspect his works, ascertain his strength, movements, or designs, and to communicate such intelligence to the proper officer.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) A former Labour minister, Nicholas Brown, said the public were frightened they "were going to be spied on" and that "illegally obtained" information would find its way to the public domain.
  • (2) The influence of calcium ions on the electrophoretic properties of phospholipid stabilized emulsions containing various quantities of the sodium salts of oleic acid (SO), phosphatidic acid (SPA), phosphatidylinositol (SPI), and phosphatidylserine (SPS) was examined.
  • (3) Both the SPI and EW groups had significantly higher levels of CPA and CPB activity at 1 h postprandial than the C group.
  • (4) UPDATE II [Tues.] Two other items that may be of interest: first, Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger was the guest for the full hour yesterday on Democracy Now, discussing the paper's role in reporting the NSA stories, and the video and transcript of the interview are here ; second, marking our collaboration on a series of articles about spying on Indians, the Hindu has a long interview with me on a variety of related topics, here .
  • (5) Given how Bank forecasts have been all over the shop, it is possible that the Old Lady's spreadsheet wizards could scupper Mr Carney's plans by spying a speck of price pressure and panicking about it turning into a giant inflationary boulder.
  • (6) A 76-year-old British national has been held in an Iranian jail for more than four years and convicted of spying, his family has revealed, as they seek to draw attention to the plight of a man they describe as one of the “oldest and loneliest prisoners in Iran”.
  • (7) Now US officials, who have spoken to Reuters on condition of anonymity, say the roundabout way the commission's emails were obtained strongly suggests the intrusion originated in China , possibly by amateurs, and not from India's spy service.
  • (8) Doreen Lawrence to speak at conference on police spying, corruption and racism Read more Mick Creedon, the Derbyshire Chief Constable who is leading the police’s internal investigation into the SDS, said the public inquiry “will help us with the work that is already underway to make sure that the unacceptable behaviour of some officers in the past never happens again”.
  • (9) Willie Spies, its legal representative, said: "Rationality has to return to the debate.
  • (10) The government has won a High Court order to prevent the partial lifting of a secrecy order affecting the proposed inquest into the death of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko.
  • (11) The writer John Lanchester concedes that democracies will always need spies, but reading the Snowden documents persuaded him that piecing together habits of thought from internet searches takes things far beyond conventional spying: “Google doesn’t just know you’re gay before you tell your mum; it knows you’re gay before you do.
  • (12) You cannot hold up a picture of someone being electronically spied on; even worse, you cannot illustrate the psychic damage and cowed sensibilities that come with the fear of being spied on.
  • (13) Instead this is contaminating the police and policing.” “In addition, it’s costing an absolute fortune where we have £50m being spent one case alone, ie Stakeknife,” he said, referring to the investigation into Freddie Scappaticci, who infiltrated the IRA and became head of its spy-catching unit.
  • (14) The report concludes that the UK response was probably true, given extensive British laws that already allow practically unlimited spying.
  • (15) Hiddleston, who played spy Jonathan Pine in the Night Manager, has played down speculation that he would take on the role, recently telling the BBC’s Graham Norton Show: “The position isn’t vacant as far as I’m aware.
  • (16) Afghan officials in the past have expressed fears that soldiers sent to Pakistan could be recruited as spies or that their careers would be stunted by the deep hostility that Afghans harbour towards Pakistan.
  • (17) She said the remit of the inquiry – established under the 2005 Inquiries Act – is due to be published by July, following input from interested parties including those who were spied upon.
  • (18) Commercial antigens of R. prowazekii may be used for the diagnosis of the typhus group rickettsiosis by the new solid-phase indirect enzyme immunoassay (SPI EIA).
  • (19) Safety evaluations of sunflower protein isolates (SPI) obtained by various processes were performed in subchronic (90-day) feeding studies using male and female rats as experimental animals.
  • (20) • The Spanish government has warned the US that revelations of widespread spying by the National Security Agency could, if confirmed, “ lead to a breakdown in the traditional trust ” between the two countries.