Word.ws English Dictionary

descrying

descrying is the present participle and gerund of descry.

Meaning of descry

Verb

descry (third-person singular simple present descries, present participle descrying, simple past and past participle descried)

  1. (literary, transitive) To announce a discovery: to disclose; to reveal.
    • [I]f the Harte ſhould rowze for feare a farre of [off], his hound (hunting vpon the winde) might carie him amiſſe, ſo that he ſhould not finde the layre. Whereby (⁊ by yͤ foyles about it) he might haue certain iudgement: and if he rowze or vnharbor the Deare ⁊ find the layre, let him not blow ouer...1575, Jacques du Fouilloux, “How a Huntsman should Rowze an Hart, and Cast off His Hounds to Him”, in George Gascoigne, transl., The Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting. […], London: […] Thomas Purfoot...
  2. (literary, transitive) To see, especially from afar; to discover (a distant or obscure object) by the eye; to espy; to discern or detect.
    • VVe vvere deſcried, theyle mock vs novv dounright.c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby...

Words formed from descrying

Words that rhyme with descrying

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about descrying

What is descrying the present participle and gerund of?
Descrying is the present participle and gerund of descry.

Words near descrying in the dictionary

  1. descrive
  2. descrived
  3. descrives
  4. descriving
  5. descry
  6. descrying
  7. descs.
  8. descum
  9. descummed
  10. descumming
  11. descums

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: descrying (page history and authors); descry (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “descrying.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/descrying. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.