prise

present singular third person prises · participle present prising · participle past prised · past prised · alternative prize

1. To force (open) with a lever; to pry.

   Come, force the gates with crowbars, prise them apart!

   c. 1925, Jack Lindsay, translation of Lysistrata

   3 more examples

   I think he must have been trying to prise open that box yonder when he was attacked.

   1919, Sax Rohmer, The Quest of the Sacred Slipper

   Most people used pliers, scissors, rubber gloves and knives to try to prise open products.

   2004 February 2, “'Wrap rage' hitting the over-50s”, in BBC News

   Many prefectural governments operate support centers for families of hikikomori, but they are staffed by nonspecialists. The priority is to help prise hikikomori out of their rooms and get them back to work, a solution that may leave psychological issues unaddressed.

   2019 June 6, Motoko Rich, “Japan’s Extreme Recluses Already Faced Stigma. Now, After Knifings, They’re Feared.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 06 Jun 2019

2. To extract something that is difficult to obtain.

   prise information out of someone

plural prises · alternative prize

1. obsoleteAn enterprise or adventure.

   In which I may record the memory Of my loves conquest, peerlesse beauties prise

   1595, Edmunde Spenser [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “[Amoretti.] Sonnet LXIX”, in Amoretti and Epithalamion. […], London: […] [Peter Short] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC

2. obsoleteObsolete form of prize.