Pry vs Prise - What's the difference?
pry | prise |
To look where one is not welcome; to be nosey.
To look closely and curiously at.
* Shakespeare
The act of prying
An excessively inquisitive person
A lever.
Leverage.
To use leverage to open or widen. (See also prise and prize.)
To force (open) with a lever; to pry.
As verbs the difference between pry and prise
is that pry is to look where one is not welcome; to be nosey while prise is to force (open) with a lever; to pry.As nouns the difference between pry and prise
is that pry is the act of prying while prise is an enterprise.pry
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) pryen, . More at (l).Verb
(en-verb)- Watch thou and wake when others be asleep, / To pry into the secrets of the state.
Noun
Etymology 2
1800, ("lever"), construed as a plural noun or as a 3rd person singular verb.Noun
(pries)Verb
(en-verb)prise
English
Alternative forms
* (verb) prizeSee also
* priceVerb
(pris)- 1919: I think he must have been trying to prise open that box yonder when he was attacked. — , The Quest of the Sacred Slipper
- c. 1925: Come, force the gates with crowbars, prise them apart! — Jack Lindsay, translation of Lysistrata
- 2004: Most people used pliers, scissors, rubber gloves and knives to try to prise open products. — BBC News