pry

Word family

pry /praɪ/ verb (pried, prying, pries)

1 [intransitiveI]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 [transitiveT always + adverbadv/prepositionprep] especially American EnglishAmEOPEN to force something open, or force it away from something else 撬开，撬起 SYN British English prize

pry 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

Examples from the Corpus

away from prying eyes• She is finally able to relax with friends, away from prying eyes.• Until the key is used, the contents of the message are locked away from prying eyes.

4 pry something out of somebody/something phrasal verbphr v American EnglishAmE 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。

Examples from the Corpus

pry out of • You reach in, grasp hold of one can, and pry it out of the plastic.

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 unknown