‘‘I want that,’ my sister Molly says, espying my purchase.’
‘We espy the professor and his assistant in the distance and amble over to them.’
‘Later, I am in a supermarket, and I espy a former teacher whom I did not like.’
‘If I espy a weed trying to masquerade as one of my plants I just yank it out.’
‘This afternoon, whilst I was chatting to an elderly couple who wanted directions to somewhere, my eyes wandered to the car park verge and espied a single solitary daffodil blooming in the late winter sun.’
perceive, make out, pick out, detect, recognize, notice, observe, see, spot