pry
verb
- look at, illicitly
- separate attached materials by expanding at a crack
- to pull loose with some difficulty; prise
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L326062 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /pɹaɪ/
name
Etymology: * As an Irish surname, spelling variant of Prey, from Ó Préith, probably from na préith (“of the cattle-spoil”) (compare Latin praeda (“plunder, booty”)). * As a German surname, a spelling variant of Prey, from breu (“brew”); see brauen. Comparable to the surname Preyer.
- A surname.
noun
Etymology: The noun is probably a back-formation from prise, prize (“tool for levering, lever”), construed as the plural of pry. 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.
- A tool for levering; a crowbar, a lever.
verb
Etymology: The noun is probably a back-formation from prise, prize (“tool for levering, lever”), construed as the plural of pry. 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.
- To use leverage to open, raise, or widen (something); to prise or prize.
“"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."”
- Usually followed by out (of): to draw out or get (information, etc.) with effort.