pry


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pry 1

 (prī)
intr.v. pried (prīd), pry·ing, pries (prīz)
To look or inquire closely, curiously, or impertinently: was always prying into the affairs of others.

[Middle English prien.]

pry 2

 (prī)
tr.v. pried (prīd), pry·ing, pries (prīz)
1. To raise, move, or force open with a lever.
2. To obtain with effort or difficulty: pried a confession out of the suspect.
n. pl. pries (prīz)
Something, such as a crowbar, that is used to apply leverage.

[Alteration of prize.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

pry

(praɪ)
vb, pries, prying or pried
(often foll by: into) to make an impertinent or uninvited inquiry (about a private matter, topic, etc)
n, pl pries
1. the act of prying
2. a person who pries
[C14: of unknown origin]

pry

(praɪ)
vb, pries, prying or pried
1. to force open by levering
2. US and Canadian to extract or obtain with difficulty: they had to pry the news out of him.
Equivalent term (in Britain and other countries): prise
[C14: of unknown origin]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

pry1

(praɪ)

v.i. pried, pry•ing.
1. to inquire impertinently or unnecessarily into something: to pry into the personal affairs of others.
2. to look closely or curiously; peer.
[1275–1325; Middle English pryen, prien, of uncertain orig.]

pry2

(praɪ)

v. pried, pry•ing, v.t.
1. to move, raise, or open by leverage.
2. to obtain, extract, or separate with difficulty: to pry a secret out of someone.
n.
3. a tool, as a crowbar, for raising, moving, or opening something by leverage.
4. the leverage exerted.
[1800–10; back formation from prize3, taken as a pl. n. or 3rd pers. singular verb]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

pry


Past participle: pried
Gerund: prying

Imperative
pry
pry
Present
I pry
you pry
he/she/it pries
we pry
you pry
they pry
Preterite
I pried
you pried
he/she/it pried
we pried
you pried
they pried
Present Continuous
I am prying
you are prying
he/she/it is prying
we are prying
you are prying
they are prying
Present Perfect
I have pried
you have pried
he/she/it has pried
we have pried
you have pried
they have pried
Past Continuous
I was prying
you were prying
he/she/it was prying
we were prying
you were prying
they were prying
Past Perfect
I had pried
you had pried
he/she/it had pried
we had pried
you had pried
they had pried
Future
I will pry
you will pry
he/she/it will pry
we will pry
you will pry
they will pry
Future Perfect
I will have pried
you will have pried
he/she/it will have pried
we will have pried
you will have pried
they will have pried
Future Continuous
I will be prying
you will be prying
he/she/it will be prying
we will be prying
you will be prying
they will be prying
Present Perfect Continuous
I have been prying
you have been prying
he/she/it has been prying
we have been prying
you have been prying
they have been prying
Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been prying
you will have been prying
he/she/it will have been prying
we will have been prying
you will have been prying
they will have been prying
Past Perfect Continuous
I had been prying
you had been prying
he/she/it had been prying
we had been prying
you had been prying
they had been prying
Conditional
I would pry
you would pry
he/she/it would pry
we would pry
you would pry
they would pry
Past Conditional
I would have pried
you would have pried
he/she/it would have pried
we would have pried
you would have pried
they would have pried
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.pry - a heavy iron lever with one end forged into a wedgepry - a heavy iron lever with one end forged into a wedge
jim crow - a crowbar fitted with a claw for pulling nails
jemmy, jimmy - a short crowbar; "in Britain they call a jimmy and jemmy"
lever - a rigid bar pivoted about a fulcrum
Verb1.pry - to move or force, especially in an effort to get something open; "The burglar jimmied the lock": "Raccoons managed to pry the lid off the garbage pail"
open, open up - cause to open or to become open; "Mary opened the car door"
2.pry - be nosey; "Don't pry into my personal matters!"
ask, enquire, inquire - inquire about; "I asked about their special today"; "He had to ask directions several times"
3.pry - search or inquire in a meddlesome waypry - search or inquire in a meddlesome way; "This guy is always nosing around the office"
search, look - search or seek; "We looked all day and finally found the child in the forest"; "Look elsewhere for the perfect gift!"
4.pry - make an uninvited or presumptuous inquiry; "They pried the information out of him"
wring from, extort - get or cause to become in a difficult or laborious manner
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

pry

verb be inquisitive, peer, interfere, poke, peep, meddle, intrude, snoop (informal), nose into, be nosy (informal), be a busybody, ferret about, poke your nose in or into (informal) We do not want people prying into our affairs.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

pry

verb
To look into or inquire about curiously, inquisitively, or in a meddlesome fashion:
Informal: nose (around).
Idiom: stick one's nose into.
noun
A person who snoops:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
يَبْحَثُ عَنَ الَأسْراريَدُسُّ أنْفَه في شؤون الآخرين
slíditstrkat nos
snagesnuse
udellaurkkia
fouinerimmiscers’immiscer
zabadati nos
kíváncsiskodik
hnÿsast í, snuîra
詮索する
캐다
okšķerēt
snoka
สอดรู้สอดเห็น
başkasının işine burnunu sokmakgözetlemek
thọc mạch

pry

1 [praɪ] VI (= snoop) → fisgonear, curiosear; (= spy) → atisbar
to pry into sb's affairs(entro)meterse en los asuntos de algn
to pry into sb's secretscuriosear en los secretos de algn
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

pry

[ˈpraɪ] vis'immiscer
I don't mean to pry, but → Je ne voudrais pas m'immiscer, mais ...
to pry into sth → s'immiscer dans qch
He's always prying into other people's affairs → Il s'immisce toujours dans les affaires des autres.
safe from prying eyes → à l'abri des regards indiscrets
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

pry

1
vineugierig sein; (in drawers etc) → (herum)schnüffeln (→ in in +dat); I don’t mean to pry, but …es geht mich ja nichts an, aber …; to pry into somebody’s affairsseine Nase in jds Angelegenheiten (acc)stecken; to pry into somebody’s secretsjds Geheimnisse ausspionieren wollen; to pry aroundherumschnüffeln
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

pry

1 [praɪ] viessere troppo curioso/a
to pry into sb's affairs → cacciare il naso negli affari di qn
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

pry

(prai) verb
to try to find out about something that is secret, especially other people's affairs. He is always prying into my business.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

pry

يَبْحَثُ عَنَ الَأسْرار slídit snage neugierig sein ψαχουλεύω curiosear udella s’immiscer zabadati nos spiare 詮索する 캐다 gluren snoke wtrącić się intrometer-se выведывать snoka สอดรู้สอดเห็น gözetlemek thọc mạch 窥探
Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009
References in classic literature ?
While he lamented and bewailed his sores and bruises, and cried loudly for help, a neighbor ran to the well, and learning what had happened said: "Hark ye, old fellow, why, in striving to pry into what is in heaven, do you not manage to see what is on earth?'
Thy soul shall find itself alone 'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone - Not one, of all the crowd, to pry Into thine hour of secrecy:
Run for God's sake, and fetch something to pry open the door --the axe!
There reigns a heavy silence; gaunt weeds through windows pry, And down the streets of Liang old echoes, wailing, die.
In the winter, when the earth is frozen hard, they are obliged to stay below and cannot work their way through; but now, when the sun has thawed and warmed the earth, they break through it, and come out to pry and steal; and what once gets into their hands, and in their caves, does not easily see daylight again.'
He let me pry about among a quantity of mildewed and musty manuscripts and I came across this.
A good wife should know better than to pry into affairs of her husband's with which she had no concern."
If you pry it up, so as to get it overhead, and expose its rows of teeth, it seems a terrific portcullis; and such, alas!
In desperation the smaller of the two Assassins pulled out a long knife from his pocket, and tried to pry Pinocchio's mouth open with it.
Has it ever been my custom to pry into other men's mouths, to see what is being put into them?
Heat the backhousing with hot gun 1 pry the backhousing with metal tool 2
Correctional Officer Timothy Davison, 47, died on Wednesday after suffering injuries inflicted with what is known as a "pry bar" or "tray tool," a bar he carried to activate the spring bolt lock that keeps a slot open or closed in a cell door.