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pry

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Paul Pry

A nosy, meddlesome person. The phrase refers to the title character of a 19th-century play by John Poole. Come on, Paul Pry, stop asking so many questions about my personal life!

See also: Paul, pry

pry around

to sneak or prowl around looking for something. Why are you prying around? Mind your own business! Please don't pry around. You might find out something you don't want to know.

See also: around, pry

pry into something

to snoop into something; to get into someone else's business. Why are you prying into my affairs all the time? I wish you wouldn't pry into my personal life.

See also: pry

pry something from someone

 and pry something out of someone

to work information out of someone; to force someone to reveal information. I couldn't even pry her name from her. The police tried to pry the name of the killer out of Max.

See also: pry

pry something from something

 and pry something out (of something)

to remove something from something with or as if with a lever. See if you can pry this wedge from its slot. I pried the rotted board out of the side of the house.

See also: pry

pry something off (of) something

 and pry something off

to use a lever to get something off something. (Of is usually retained before pronouns.) Tom pried the top off the jelly jar. He pried off the jar top.

See also: off, pry

pry something out

(of something) Go to pry something from something.

See also: out, pry

pry something up

to raise something with or as with a lever. See if you can pry that trapdoor up. Pry up that lid.

See also: pry, up

pry out

v.

1. To extract something with or as if with a lever: I pried out the staples from the thick report. They pried the microphone out of my hands to stop me from singing.

2. To obtain something from someone with effort or difficulty: The detectives finally pried a confession out of the suspect. They kept questioning me until they had pried out all the information.

See also: out, pry