单词 | prying |
释义 | pryingn.1 The action of peering at, spying on, or investigating something; a close search or examination, esp. into something personal or private. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > [noun] > impertinent curiosity, prying > action of prying prying1547 peeping1593 Paul-Prying1880 prodnosing1958 1547 Bp. S. Gardiner Let. 1 July (1933) 340 Ther is a company of other vertues ther with fayth, as all men agree, and requireth a longe pryenge, questioning, and serching. 1567 T. Harding Reioindre to M. Iewels Replie against Masse 68 Vse as much pryieng as you can, in these woordes where finde you the Contradiction? 1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. viii. i. 386/2 There with a narrow prying was sought out the Fibra, or veine of the heart on the left side. 1693 T. Urquhart & P. A. Motteux tr. F. Rabelais 3rd Bk. Wks. xxxiii. 281 A suspicious espying and prying into the..Deportments of their Wives. 1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews I. ii. iv. 162 I cannot bear the Apprehension of another's prying into those delightful Endearments with which the warm Imagination of a Lover will sometimes indulge him. View more context for this quotation 1794 J. Scott Baptism of Christ ii. 45 Christ spake in parables to concur with his Father in hiding these things from the pryings and investigations of this world's wisdom and prudence. 1847 E. Brontë Wuthering Heights II. xv. 308 I want none of your prying at my house. 1894 Athenæum 24 Feb. 238/3 Their prying into every detail of private life. 1927 V. Woolf To Lighthouse ii. iv. 195 Even the prying of the wind..scarcely disturbed the peace. 1986 L. Ngosi Mating Birds viii. 40 They constitute the only defence I have against the officially sanctioned pryings of bureaucrats. 2000 B. Roberts Amer. Alchemy vii. 171 They urged patience, wariness against the prying of neighbors, and if not complete silence, at least public silence. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022). pryingn.2 The action of moving, raising, or forcing something with a lever; prising. ΚΠ 1841 R. W. Emerson Ess. 1st Ser. (Boston ed.) iv. 112 All our manual labor and works of strength, as prying, splitting, digging, rowing, and so forth, are done by dint of continual falling. 1882 Cent. Mag. Sept. 778 With a deal of sweating and swearing, prying and lifting, the rock was put upon a scale and weighed. 1955 F. G. Ashworth Butchering, Processing & Preserv. of Meat xi. 161 The prying action of the knife blade severs the neck from the body. 1993 J. A. Hufnagel Stanley Compl. Bk. Home Repair & Improvem. i. i. 28 A claw hammer combines striking and prying functions in a single tool. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022). pryingadj. That pries (in various senses of the verb); unduly, excessively, or objectionably curious, esp. in relation to secret, private, or personal matters; (formerly also without negative connotations) †inquisitive, eager for knowledge (obsolete). ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > [adjective] > unduly curiousa1340 inquisitive1529 prying1552 peering1568 speculative1605 emissitious1620 peeking1680 mousing1692 peery1699 long-nebbed1706 inquisitorial1796 nosy1827 nebby1860 inscrutive1882 rootin' tootin'1882 snoopy1895 stickybeak1917 nibby1942 pirooting1958 1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Priynge knaues, limaces uiri. 1608 D. Tuvill Ess. Politicke, & Morall f. 90v A prying eye, a listning eare, and a prating tongue, are all birds of one wing. 1693 J. Edwards Disc. conc. Old & New-Test. I. i. 20 Such things as..no Prying Historian is able to..discover. 1725 E. Haywood Bath-intrigues i. sig. B2 Long might those Inclinations been concealed from the World's Eye..had not the Jealousy and prying Curiosity of a Rival search'd into the Secret. a1777 S. Foote Trip to Calais (1778) iii. 67 She is as suspicious and prying as a customhouse officer. 1822 J. M. Good Study Med. III. 67 Analyzed in turn, by the most dextrous and prying anatomists of England, France, Germany, and Italy, but with no satisfactory result. 1892 R. L. Stevenson & L. Osbourne Wrecker xx. 317 I am sure you did not tell this prying stranger. 1918 W. Lewis Tarr i. i. 15 As an offset for your prying, scurvy way of peeping into my affairs you must offer your own guts. 1970 K. Benton Sole Agent vi. 69 She rang me up, she did, the stick-beak, the prying old cow! 1991 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Mar. 148/2 Among the vehicles departing..had been several Mercedes and Range Rovers with windows curtained against prying eyes. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.11547n.21841adj.1552 |
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