Word.ws English Dictionary

Paul Pry

Paul Pry noun: a nosy person.

Noun

Paul Pry

  1. A nosy person.
    • This self-gratulation is very natural; but it is not very just. The desire of knowledge is innate in human nature. We are all born more or less of a Paul Pry, and inherit a good dash of the temperament of "our general mother".1841, Sir Thomas Charles Morgan, Lady Morgan (Sydney), The Book Without a Name, volume 1, page 83
    • “Lot of Paul Prys,” grunted Miss Howard.1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 131

Origin of Paul Pry

Name of the interfering protagonist in John Poole's 1825 comic play of the same name; alliterative, from pry.

Questions about Paul Pry

What does Paul Pry mean?
Paul Pry means a nosy person.
What part of speech is Paul Pry?
Paul Pry is a noun.

Words near Paul Pry in the dictionary

  1. Paul Bert effect
  2. Paul Blart
  3. Paul Bunyan
  4. Paul Jones
  5. Paul Joneses
  6. Paul Pry
  7. Paul Smiths
  8. Paul Veronese green
  9. Paul's
  10. Paula
  11. paulchoffatiid

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Paul Pry (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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