pry

verb

1. (intransitive)To peer closely and curiously, especially at something closed or not public.

   “[W]omen haue eagles eyes, / To prie euen to the heart, and why not you?”

   “[…] to elude, thus wrapt in miſt / Of midnight vapor glide obſcure, and prie / In every Buſh and brake, where hap may finde / The Serpent ſleeping, […]”

   “And choice of studious friends had he / Of Bolton's dear fraternity: / […] / [I]n their cells with him did pry / For other lore,—through strong desire / Searching the earth with chemic fire: […]”

2. (figuratively, intransitive)To inquire into something that does not concern one; to be nosy; to snoop.

   “Watch thou, and wake when others be aſleepe, / To prie into the ſecrets of the State, […]”

   “We literary hacks are shameless creatures. I believe there's no secret of the human heart into which we wouldn't pry.”

   “I don't mean to pry, but could you tell me where you got that scarf?”

   “to pry into someone's affairs”

3. (obsolete, transitive)To peer at (something) closely; also, to look into (a matter, etc.) thoroughly.

   “The two ship's corporals went among the sailors by the names of Leggs and Pounce; […] Bland, the master-at-arms, ravished with their dexterity in prying out offenders, used to call them his two right hands.”

4. (transitive)To use leverage to open, raise, or widen (something); to prise or prize.

   “"Oh! he's going home to Down East," said another; "so far eastward, you know, shippy, that they have to pry up the sun with a handspike."”

5. (figuratively, transitive)Usually followed by out (of): to draw out or get (information, etc.) with effort.

noun

1. An act of prying; a close and curious look.

   “With those beauties, scarce discern'd, / Kept with such sweet privacy, / That they seldom meet the eye / Of the little loves that fly / Round about with eager pry.”

2. A person who is very inquisitive or nosy; a busybody, a nosey parker.
3. (East-Anglia, US)A tool for levering; a crowbar, a lever.

name

1. A surname.