pester
verb
- to bother, harass
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈpɛstə(ɹ)/ / /ˈpɛstɚ/ / [ˈpʰɛstɚ]
noun
Etymology: In the senses of “overcrowd (a place)” and “impede (a person)”: from Middle French and Old French empestrer (“encumber”), influenced by English pest. The modern sense is an extension of the sense “infest”. Comparable to English construction pest + -er (used to form frequentative verbs).
- A bother or nuisance.
“By now I presumed I had become a real pester.”
verb
Etymology: In the senses of “overcrowd (a place)” and “impede (a person)”: from Middle French and Old French empestrer (“encumber”), influenced by English pest. The modern sense is an extension of the sense “infest”. Comparable to English construction pest + -er (used to form frequentative verbs).
- To bother, harass, or annoy persistently.
“He pestered me with questions.”
“She pestered him to help her.”
- To crowd together thickly.
“That which eſpecialleſt nouriſht the moſt prime pleaſure in me, was after a ſtorme when they were driuen inſwarmes, and lay close peſtred together as thicke as they could packe; the next day following, if it were faire, they would cloud the whole skie with canuas, by ſpreading their drabled ſailes in the full clue abroad a drying, and make a brauer ſhew with them, then ſo many banners and ſtreamers diſplayed againſt the Sunne on a mountaine top.”