Paul Pry

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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

Noun[edit]

Paul Pry

  1. A nosy person.
    • 1841, Sir Thomas Charles Morgan, Lady Morgan (Sydney), The Book Without a Name (volume 1, page 83)
      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".