prise
Etymology

From Old French prise.

Pronunciation Verb

prise (prises, present participle prising; simple past and past participle prised)

  1. To force (open) with a lever; to pry.
    • 1919, Sax Rohmer, The Quest of the Sacred Slipper:
      I think he must have been trying to prise open that box yonder when he was attacked.
    • c. 1925, Jack Lindsay, translation of Lysistrata:
      Come, force the gates with crowbars, prise them apart!
    • 2004, BBC News:
      Most people used pliers, scissors, rubber gloves and knives to try to prise open products.
  2. Extract something that is difficult to obtain.
    prise information out of someone
Translations Noun

prise (plural prises)

  1. (obsolete) An enterprise or adventure.
    • 1595, Edmunde Spenser [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “[Amoretti.] Sonnet LXIX”, in Amoretti and Epithalamion. […], London: […] [Peter Short] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC ↗:
      In which I may record the memory Of my loves conquest, peerlesse beauties prise
  2. Obsolete form of prize



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