Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Sense: 1,3
Date: 1300-1400
Origin: Origin unknown
Sense: 2,4
Date: 1800-1900
Origin: prize 'to force up' (17-21 centuries), from prize 'lever' (14-20 centuries), from Old French prise 'act of seizing'

pry

 verb
     
pry past tense and past participle pried, present participle prying, third person singular pries
1 [intransitive] to try to find out details about someone else's private life in an impolite way:
I don't want to pry, but I need to ask you one or two questions.
pry into
reporters prying into the affairs of celebrities
2 [transitive always + adverb/preposition] especially American English to force something open, or force it away from something else [= prize British English]
pry something open/away/off etc
We finally managed to pry the door open with a screwdriver.
3

away from prying eyes

in private, where people cannot see what you are doing

pry something out of somebody/something

phrasal verb
to get money or information from someone with a lot of difficulty:
If you want to know his name, you have to pry it out of her.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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