pry
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5++LDOCE 5++pry /praɪ/ verb (pried, prying, pries) 1 [intransitive]FIND OUT to try to find out details about someone else’s private life in an impolite way 冒昧地问；打听，探听 I don’t want to pry, but I need to ask you one or two questions. 我不想唐突，不过我需要问你一两个问题。pry into reporters prying into the affairs of celebrities 打探名人私事的记者2 [transitive always + adverb/preposition] especially American EnglishOPEN to force something open, or force it away from something else 撬开，撬起 SYN British English prizepry something open/away/off etc We finally managed to pry the door open with a screwdriver. 我们最后设法用螺丝刀把门撬开了。3. away from prying eyes PRIVATE/PERSONALin private, where people cannot see what you are doing 私下，避开窥视的目光4 pry something out of somebody/something phrasal verb American English to get money or information from someone with a lot of difficulty 费力地得到〔金钱或信息〕 If you want to know his name, you’ll have to pry it out of her. 如果你想知道他的名字，就必须想法从她那里打听。→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
pry• Anna is a private person, and I did not want to pry.• My son hasn't given us a reason for his divorce, and we don't want to pry.• Her head throbbed, but she ignored it as she probed and pried.• I didn't mean to pry.• But those glimmering eyes can also be prying, even sinister.• The picture had been pried from each one.• Employers shouldn't try to pry into what a person does in the privacy of their own home.• Now, say two physicists at Johns Hopkins University, the secret behind this sticky mystery has been pried loose.• That is their secret, and will remain so; it behoves us not to pry, only to speculate in passing.• Maury Maverick managed to pry out of the Pentagon the religious affiliations of the 220 who died that day in Beirut.• Collymore heaved himself into the boat and slapped the boy until his senses returned, prying the club from his mortal grip.Origin pry 1. (1300-1400) Origin unknown2. (1800-1900) prize “to force up” ((17-21 centuries)), from prize “lever” ((14-20 centuries)), from Old French prise “act of seizing”pry verbChinese
about out to try Corpus someone find to else’s details
pry
pry /praɪ/
verb (past tense and past participle pried, present participle prying, third person singular pries)
Origin: Origin unknown
Origin: prize 'to force up' (17-21 centuries), from prize 'lever' (14-20 centuries), from Old French prise 'act of seizing'1. [intransitive] to try to find out details about someone else’s private life in an impolite way:
I don’t want to pry, but I need to ask you one or two questions.
pry into
reporters prying into the affairs of celebrities
2. [transitive always + adverb/preposition] especially American English to force something open, or force it away from something else
SYN prize British English
pry something open/away/off etc
We finally managed to pry the door open with a screwdriver.
3. away from prying eyes in private, where people cannot see what you are doing
pry something out of somebody/something phrasal verb American English
to get money or information from someone with a lot of difficulty:
If you want to know his name, you’ll have to pry it out of her.
▪ interfere to try to get involved in a situation where you are not wanted or needed: She tried not to interfere in her children’s lives. | It’s not your problem, so don’t interfere.
▪meddle to interfere in someone else’s affairs in a way that is annoying for them. Meddle is more informal than interfere, and has more of a feeling of being annoyed: I did not want my parents meddling in my private affairs. | He warned diplomats against meddling in Indonesia’s affairs.
▪intrude to interfere by being somewhere where you are not wanted, or getting involved in a situation that is private – used especially when saying that you want to avoid doing this: Sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude while you were on the phone. | When someone dies, people are often worried about intruding.
▪butt in informal to interfere by trying to become involved in a private situation or conversation that does not concern you: Stop butting in, will you! | I didn’t want to give them any advice in case they thought I was butting in.
▪pry to try to find out what someone else is doing in their private life, by asking questions or secretly checking what they are doing, in a way that seems annoying or rude: Journalists like to pry into the lives of the rich and famous. | I didn’t mean to pry – I just wanted to know if I could help.
▪poke/stick your nose into something informal to ask questions about someone else’s private life or give them advice they do not want, in a way that annoys them: She’s one of those people who’s always poking her nose into other people’s business.
pry /praɪ/
verb (past tense and past participle pried, present participle prying, third person singular pries) Sense 1,3
Date: 1300-1400Origin: Origin unknown
Sense 2,4
Date: 1800-1900Origin: prize 'to force up' (17-21 centuries), from prize 'lever' (14-20 centuries), from Old French prise 'act of seizing'
pry into
2. [transitive always + adverb/preposition] especially American English to force something open, or force it away from something else
SYN prize British English
pry something open/away/off etc
3. away from prying eyes in private, where people cannot see what you are doing
pry something out of somebody/something phrasal verb American English
to get money or information from someone with a lot of difficulty:
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