pry
English edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
The verb is inherited from Middle English prien, pryen (“to look closely, peer into, pry, spy”) [and other forms],[1] from Old English *prīwan, *prēowian (“to look narrowly, to squint at”), attested by Old English beprīwan, beprēwan (“to wink”); further etymology unknown,[2] but probably akin to Old English *prēowot (“closing of the eyes”), attested only in combination – compare prēowthwīl (“blink or twinkling of an eye, moment”), princ (“a wink”): see prink.
The noun is derived from the verb.[3]
Verb edit
pry (third-person singular simple present pries, present participle prying, simple past and past participle pried)
- (intransitive)
- To peer closely and curiously, especially at something closed or not public.
- 1599 (first performance), [Thomas Dekker, Henry Chettle, William Houghton], The Pleasant Comodie of Patient Grissill. […], London: […] Henry Rocket, […], published 1603; republished Erlangen, Bavaria: […] Fr. Junge (Junge & Sohn), 1893, →OCLC, page 11, lines 293–294:
- [W]omen haue eagles eyes, / To prie euen to the heart, and why not you?
- 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 158–161:
- […] to elude, thus wrapt in miſt / Of midnight vapor glide obſcure, and prie / In every Buſh and brake, where hap may finde / The Serpent ſleeping, […]
- 1815, William Wordsworth, “Canto First”, in The White Doe of Rylstone; or The Fate of the Nortons. A Poem, London: […] [James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], →OCLC, page 19:
- And choice of studious friends had he / Of Bolton's dear fraternity: / […] / [I]n their cells with him did pry / For other lore,—through strong desire / Searching the earth with chemic fire: […]
- (figuratively) To inquire into something that does not concern one; to be nosy; to snoop.
- 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 122, column 1:
- Watch thou, and wake when others be aſleepe, / To prie into the ſecrets of the State, […]
- 1908, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, “Possibilities of a Pleasant Outing”, in A Room with a View, London: Edward Arnold, →OCLC, part I, page 73:
- We literary hacks are shameless creatures. I believe there's no secret of the human heart into which we wouldn't pry.
- To peer closely and curiously, especially at something closed or not public.
- (transitive, obsolete) To peer at (something) closely; also, to look into (a matter, etc.) thoroughly.
- 1850, Herman Melville, “Night and Day Gambling in a Man-of-War”, in White-Jacket; or, The World in a Man-of-War, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers; London: Richard Bentley, published 1855, →OCLC, page 357:
- The two ship's corporals went among the sailors by the names of Leggs and Pounce; […] Bland, the master-at-arms, ravished with their dexterity in prying out offenders, used to call them his two right hands.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
to peer closely and curiously, especially at something closed or not public
|
to inquire into something that does not concern one; to be nosy
|
Noun edit
pry (plural pries)
- An act of prying; a close and curious look.
- Synonym: prying
- 1817 March 3, John Keats, “[Poems.] To ****”, in Poems, London: […] [Charles Richards] for C[harles] & J[ames] Ollier, […], →OCLC; reprinted in Poems (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, 1927, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 37:
- With those beauties, scarce discern'd, / Kept with such sweet privacy, / That they seldom meet the eye / Of the little loves that fly / Round about with eager pry.
- A person who is very inquisitive or nosy; a busybody, a nosey parker.
- Synonym: (chiefly US) Paul Pry
Related terms edit
- Paul Pry (predates sense 2)
Translations edit
act of prying; close and curious look
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Etymology 2 edit
The noun is probably a back-formation from prise, prize (“tool for levering, lever”), construed as the plural of pry.[4]
The verb is either derived from the noun, or is a back-formation from prise (“to force open with a lever”), construed as pries, the third-person singular present form of pry.[5]
Noun edit
pry (plural pries)
Translations edit
tool for levering — see also crowbar
Verb edit
pry (third-person singular simple present pries, present participle prying, simple past and past participle pried) (transitive)
- To use leverage to open, raise, or widen (something); to prise or prize.
- 1850, Herman Melville, “A Dish of Dunderfunk”, in White-Jacket; or, The World in a Man-of-War, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers; London: Richard Bentley, published 1855, →OCLC, page 158:
- "Oh! he's going home to Down East," said another; "so far eastward, you know, shippy, that they have to pry up the sun with a handspike."
- (figuratively) Usually followed by out (of): to draw out or get (information, etc.) with effort.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
to use leverage to open, raise, or widen
|
to draw out or get (information, etc.) with effort
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
References edit
- ^ “prīen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ “pry, v.1”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2020; “pry1, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- ^ “† pry, n.3”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2019.
- ^ “pry, n.4”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2020.
- ^ “pry, v.2”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2020; “pry2, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Anagrams edit
Yola edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English preien, from Anglo-Norman preier, from Old French proiier, from Latin precor.
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
pry (simple past pryet)
- to pray
References edit
- Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 63