Pry
Contents
English
Verb
Pry (third-person singular simple present pries, present participle Prying, simple past and past participle pried)
Noun
Pry- The act of prying
- An excessively inquisitive person
Noun
Pry (plural pries)Verb
Pry (third-person singular simple present pries, present participle Prying, simple past and past participle pried)
Thesaurus
Paul Pry, Paul-Pry, Peeping Tom, backseat driver, bar, beam, beat the bushes, bend the eyes, boom, burrow, busybody, cant hook, claw bar, crank, crow, crowbar, delve, delve into, dig, dig into, direct the eyes, disengage, disjoin, divide, eavesdropper, elevate, explore, fathom, fool with, forage, frisk, fulcrumage, get a foothold, get leverage, go into, go through, gossip, handspike, hoist, hunt, indagate, inquirer, inquisitive, inquisitor, intermeddle, intermeddler, investigate, iron crow, jimmy, kibitz, kibitzer, lever, leverage, lift, limb, look, look around, look into, look round, look through, marlinespike, meddle, meddle with, meddler, mess with, monkey with, mouse, nose, nose around, nosy Parker, outrigger, peavey, pedal, peek, peep, peer, peer into, pick up, pinch bar, play peekaboo, plumb, poke, poke around, poke into, prier, prize, probe, pry into, querier, querist, questioner, quidnunc, raise, rear, research, ripping bar, root, rubberneck, rubbernecker, scopophiliac, search, search into, search through, separate, sift, sightseer, smell around, snook, snoop, snooper, sound, spar, spy, take a peep, take up, tamper with, treadle, turn, twist, uphold, uplift, upraise, uprear, voyeur, wedge, wrecking bar, yenta
Pronunciation
- IPA: /praɪ/
- Rhymes: -aɪ
Etymology 1
From Middle English pryen, prien (“to look closely, peer into, pry, spy”), from Old English *prīwan, *prēowian (“to look narrowly, to squint at”), attested by Old English beprīwan (“to wink”). Akin to Old English *prēowot (“closing of the eyes”), attested only in combination, compare prēowthwīl (“blink or twinkling of an eye, moment”), Old English princ (“a wink”). More at prink.
Etymology 2
1800, back-formation from prize. ("lever"), construed as a plural noun or as a 3rd person singular verb.
