Definition

1. Verb (transitive):

   • To move, raise, or open something with force using a lever or similar tool: To use physical force, often with a tool, to separate or open something that is tightly closed, stuck, or sealed.
   • To obtain something (like information) from someone with effort or persistence: To extract information, a secret, or a confession from someone who is unwilling to give it.

2. Verb (intransitive):

   • To inquire or look into someone's private affairs in a nosy or intrusive way: To try to find out about things that are considered private or personal, especially in a way that is annoying or unwelcome.

3. Noun:

   • A tool for prying; a lever: A metal bar, often with a flattened end, used to exert force and open or move something. (Also spelled prise or prize in some contexts).

Usage and Examples

• Verb (transitive - physical action):

  • I had to pry the lid off the old paint can with a screwdriver.
  • The rescue team used a crowbar to pry open the damaged car door.

• Verb (transitive - obtaining information):

  • The reporter managed to pry the details of the scandal from a reluctant source.
  • She didn't want to talk, but he finally pried the truth out of her.

• Verb (intransitive - being nosy):

  • It's rude to pry into other people's financial matters.
  • I wish our neighbors would stop prying and mind their own business.

• Noun (tool):

  • He used a pry to lift the floorboards.
  • A small pry bar is useful for removing nails.

Advanced Usage and Nuances

• "Pry open": A common phrasal combination emphasizing the action of forcing something open.

  • The detective pried open the locked drawer to look for clues.

• "Pry loose": To use force to detach or free something that is stuck.

  • We pried the old tile loose from the wall.

• The noun form is less common in everyday speech than the verb. The tool is more frequently called a "crowbar," "lever," or "pry bar."

Variants and Related Words

• Pry bar (n): A specific type of lever tool used for prying.
• Prying (adj/n): Describes someone who is intrusively curious or the act itself.
  • She gave him a prying look. (adj)
  • Your constant prying is unacceptable. (n)
• Pryer/Prizer (n): (Rare) A person who pries.

Synonyms

• Verb (to open): Lever, jimmy, force, wrench.
• Verb (to inquire nosily): Snoop, nose, meddle, intrude.
• Noun (tool): Lever, crowbar, jimmy.

Phrasal Verbs and Common Combinations

• Pry into: To investigate or inquire intrusively into a private matter.
  • The journalist was accused of prying into the celebrity's personal life.
• Pry out of: To extract information or an object from someone/something with effort.
  • It was difficult to pry the promise out of him.
• Pry off/up/apart: These prepositions specify the direction or result of the prying action (removal, lifting, separation).
  • He pried the nameplate off the door.

Idioms and Fixed Expressions

• Pry one's eyes away (from something): To stop looking at something with great difficulty, often because it is very interesting or captivating.
  • The movie was so gripping I couldn't pry my eyes away from the screen.
• To be the subject of prying eyes: To be watched or scrutinized in an unwelcome, intrusive manner.
  • Living in a small town, you're always the subject of prying eyes.

Noun

1. a heavy iron lever with one end forged into a wedge

Verb

1. make an uninvited or presumptuous inquiry
   • They pried the information out of him
2. search or inquire in a meddlesome way
   • This guy is always nosing around the office
3. be nosey
   • Don't pry into my personal matters!
4. to move or force, especially in an effort to get something open
   • The burglar jimmied the lock: Raccoons managed to pry the lid off the garbage pail