5/19/2023 0 Comments Mole espionage definition![]() Brit.Wiktionary Rate this definition: 0.0 / 0 votesĪ pigmented spot on the skin, a naevus, slightly raised, and sometimes hairy.Īny of several small, burrowing insectivores of the family Talpidae.Īny of the burrowing rodents also called mole rats.Īn internal spy, a person who involves himself or herself with an enemy organisation, especially an intelligence or governmental organisation, to determine and betray its secrets from within.Ī massive structure, usually of stone, used as a pier, breakwater or junction between places separated by water.Ī haven or harbour, protected with such a breakwater.Ī structure with a breakwater on one side, and a cargo handling facility on the other. Rutherford Game of Sudden Death (BNC)Ģ83 We've had a tip from one of our moles in the Securitate.Ģ014 N. Off speculation that Paisley was the mole long suspected of Meticulous disguises are planned for long-term use.ġ980 National Times (Austral.) 10 Aug. ![]() To ferret out even ‘sleepers’ and ‘moles’, deepcover agents whose He burrows deep into the fabric of Western imperialism.ġ977 Time 11 July 10/3 He also introduced a secret computer system A mole is a deep penetration agent so called because He was recruited under the alias of ‘The Mole’.]ġ974 ‘J. Innermost workings of the White military organizations that Fedossenkoĭecided to join his network.in order to discover the source of his ‘Ivanov’.displayed such a disconcerting knowledge of the When the Cirque Doré mobilizes itself it has 7/8 It is.necessary.to describe thisĭocument in detail, so that those who may be directly or indirectlyĪffected by the underground burrowings of our Bolshevist moles will beġ935 J. For aĭetailed examination of possible origins of the term, see H. 1974) it is generally thought that the world ofĮspionage adopted it from le Carré, rather than vice versa. The term was popularized through the novels of ‘John leĬarré’ (see quot. On Cold War espionage in the 1970s earlier uses appear to be isolatedĪnd lack the specificity of meaning which the term acquired in such Information from a position of trust within an organization, esp. an intelligence agency) ofĪ state (more generally) a person who betrays confidential Of trust within the security defences (esp. A penetration agent who over a long period achieves a position Towards each other, disturbed by the human moles working beneath theirī. The black hole the trees on the slope had sagged Potter Hide & Seek (BNC) Four or five hundred yards from Must have been generations of human moles pursuing their slow butĬertain advances in mysterious candlelight.ġ990 D. Leifchild Cornwall: Mines & Miners 151 The miners there The Thief, Watching the Mole, half-beggars him e'er Morn.ġ855 J. Young Consolation 49 The Miser earths his Treasure and Perpetually working and casting to undermine him.ġ745 E. 164 Well said old Mole, can'st workeġ622 Bacon Hist. Moulds & muck-wormes of this earth, should so mind theseġ603 Shakespeare Hamlet i. Dent Plaine Mans Path-way to Heauen 86 I these A person who works underground a person who works in darkness or in secrecy.ġ601 A. Mole refers to the type of work, and could just as easily be applied to a patriot as a traitor.ģ. In literature it is heavily associated with the great espionage novelist of the period, John Le Carré. However, where it relates to membership of an organisation dedicated to espionage and the security defences of a state (sense 3b), it is of far more recent coinage - and is said to have been rare before the time of the cold war. ![]() Note that in general sense (3a) the figurative idea has been around since the time of Shakespeare, and was used by the bard himself. However in the one that relates to "small furry animals", in extended use there is included the figurative use of the word to mean "someone who works underground" e.g. In the OED there are many entries for the noun "mole".
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