surveil

English

Etymology

1903. Back-formation from surveillance (but compare also French surveiller and the variant surveille).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /sɚˈveɪl/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /səˈveɪl/
• Rhymes: -eɪl

Verb

surveil (third-person singular simple present surveils, present participle surveiling or surveilling, simple past and past participle surveiled or surveilled)

1. (transitive, US) To keep someone or something under surveillance.

   The plaintiff also stresses that the store as a whole, and the customer exits especially, were closely surveilled.

   Alexandre of London v. Indem. Ins. Co., 182 F. Supp. 748, 750 (United States District Court for the District of Columbia) (1960), cited in Bryan A. Garner. A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage (2nd ed., 2001) p. 861

Usage notes

Found without any comment in major American dictionaries, and in some British dictionaries. Collins recognizes it as either American or British. The 2015 edition of Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage labels it as "mostly AmE". Unrecognized by OED.

Translations

To keep someone or something under surveillance

• Danish: overvåge (da)
• Finnish: valvoa (fi)
• French: surveiller (fr)
• German: überwachen (de)
• Hungarian: megfigyel (hu)
• Portuguese: vigiar (pt)
• Swedish: övervaka (sv)