reconnoitre

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• reconnoiter (US)
• reconnaitre (archaic)
• reconnaître, reconnoître (rare)

From French reconnoître (obsolete spelling of reconnaître), from Latin recognoscere (“to recognise”). There is also an obsolete 19th-century British English spelling reconnaitre, influenced by the modern French form.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɹɛkəˈnɔɪtə/,
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌɹɛkəˈnɔɪtɚ/,

• Audio (US):

  (file)

reconnoitre (third-person singular simple present reconnoitres, present participle reconnoitring, simple past and past participle reconnoitred)

1. (transitive, intransitive, military) To perform a reconnaissance (of an area; an enemy position); to scout with the aim of gaining information.

   Our scout will reconnoitre the path ahead of our troops.

   • 1820, [Charles Robert Maturin], Melmoth the Wanderer: A Tale. , volume I, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Company, and Hurst, Robinson, and Co., , →OCLC, page 150:

     Not a drop of rain fell; the clouds went portentously off, like ships of war after reconnoitering a strong fort, to return with added strength and fury.

   • 1922, Agatha Christie, “Chapter 16”, in The Secret Adversary:

     "Damn!" said Tommy, and tried to sit up. He had remembered. He was in that sinister house in Soho. He uttered a groan and fell back. Through his almost-closed lids he reconnoitred carefully.

2. (obsolete) To recognise.
   • 1765, Horace Walpole, The Correspondence of Horace Walpole, with George Montagu, Esq:

     As to my person, it will not be so easy to reconnoitre it, for I question whether any of it will remain

• scout, survey

reconnoitre (plural reconnoitres)

1. An act or instance of reconnoitring.

   The pilot reported the findings of his reconnoitre.

• recon
• recce
• reconnaissance

• reconnoiter