pry
1to inquire impertinently or unnecessarily into something: to pry into the personal affairs of others.
to look closely or curiously; peer; peep.
an impertinently inquisitive person.
an act of prying.
Origin of pry
1Words Nearby pry
Other definitions for pry (2 of 2)
to move, raise, or open by leverage.
to get, separate, or ferret out with difficulty: to pry a secret out of someone;We finally pried them away from the TV.
a tool, as a crowbar, for raising, moving, or opening something by leverage.
the leverage exerted.
Origin of pry
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use pry in a sentence
In a small area, he explains, using a pry bar to leverage a heavy piece of material onto sections of rolling steel pipe can be a way to move it to a more open area.
How rescue specialists search for survivors in collapsed buildings | Rob Verger | June 29, 2021 | Popular-ScienceEscondido Police Chief Ed Varso said last week that Olson, armed with a metal pry bar, charged Moore, who backed away and gave warnings before opening fire.
North County Report: Oversight Demands Ramp Up Following Escondido Police Shooting | Kayla Jimenez | April 29, 2021 | Voice of San DiegoHarvest those carefully using a strong knife or small pry bar.
Knapp hopes she can pry open some of those doors for people.
Is the Christian Music Industry Softening on Gays? | Matthew Paul Turner | October 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTOthers want to pry it out and have two votes, one on government funding and one on the Syria dough.
Among them were the persistent efforts of a single congressman to pry out of the Pentagon the true costs of running Guantanamo.
Congress Cooperates, Obama Pushes Hard, and Closing Gitmo Has a Chance | Daniel Klaidman | December 12, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTAndrew lifts the roof of the first house and his dad uses a small metal hook to pry the first wall of honeycombs out of the hive.
These other benign interests are being used to pry open the door for all of these other uses.
Many a spy of the Kaiser had tried to pry there and had been arrested and sentenced to a long term of imprisonment.
The Doctor of Pimlico | William Le QueuxThe banks do not pry into his moral character: they are satisfied that he meets his overdrafts and promissory notes punctually.
Third class in Indian railways | Mahatma GandhiSo he didn't pry into my pockets, but only felt outside with his hands, and said it was all right.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Complete | Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)I hope I can pry Welborn loose from his digging and delving long enough to take me over that road again.
David Lannarck, Midget | George S. HarneyMadame Fontaine is thought, by those who seek to pry into the future, to be wiser in her wisdom than Mademoiselle Lenormand.
Unconscious Comedians | Honore de Balzac
British Dictionary definitions for pry (1 of 2)
/ (praɪ) /
(intr often foll by into) to make an impertinent or uninvited inquiry (about a private matter, topic, etc)
the act of prying
a person who pries
Origin of pry
1British Dictionary definitions for pry (2 of 2)
/ (praɪ) /
to force open by levering
US and Canadian to extract or obtain with difficulty: they had to pry the news out of him
Origin of pry
2- Equivalent term (in Britain and other countries): prise
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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