Shakespeare, Richard III. act v. sc. 3.
The house of Israel sent to descry (to spy out, R.V.) Bethel.—Judg. i. 23. (A.V.)
Scouts each coast light-armed scour,
Each quarter to descry the distant foe,
Where lodged or whither fled; or, if for fight,
In motion or in halt.
Milton, Paradise Lost, vi. 530.
Desire. ‘To desire’ is only to look forward with longing now; the word has lost the sense of regret or looking back upon the lost but still loved. This it once possessed in common with ‘desiderium’ and ‘desiderare,’ from which more remotely, and ‘désirer,’ from which more immediately, we derive it.
He [Jehoram] reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being desired.—2 Chron. xxi. 20. (A.V.)
She that hath a wise husband must entice him to an eternal dearness by the veil of modesty and the grave robes of chastity, and she shall be pleasant while she lives, and desired when she dies.—Bishop Taylor, The Marriage Ring, Sermon 18.