busybody

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bus·y·bod·y

(bĭz′ē-bŏd′ē)

n. pl. bus·y·bod·ies

A person who meddles or pries into the affairs of others.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

busybody

(ˈbɪzɪˌbɒdɪ)

n, pl -bodies

a meddlesome, prying, or officious person

ˈbusyˌbodying n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

bus•y•bod•y

(ˈbɪz iˌbɒd i)

n., pl. -bod•ies.

a person who pries into or meddles in the affairs of others.

[1520–30]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

busybody - a person who meddles in the affairs of others

nosey-parker, nosy-parker, quidnunc

meddler - an officious annoying person who interferes with others

busybody

noun nosy parker (informal), gossip, troublemaker, snoop, intriguer, intruder, pry, eavesdropper, snooper, stirrer (informal), meddler, scandalmonger Some busybody tipped off the police.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

busybody

noun

A person given to intruding in other people's affairs:

interloper, meddler, quidnunc.

Informal: kibitzer.

Slang: buttinsky.

Archaic: pragmatic.

Translations

ficcanaso pasticcione

busybody

[ˈbɪzɪbɒdɪ] N → entrometido/a m/f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

busybody

[ˈbɪzibɒdi] n → mouche f du cochebusy signal n (US) → tonalité f occupé inv

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

busybody

n → Wichtigtuer m, → Gschaftlhuber m (S Ger); don’t be such a busybody → misch dich nicht überall ein

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

busybody

[ˈbɪzɪˌbɒdɪ] n → ficcanaso m/f, impiccione/a

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

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References in classic literature ?

But I couldn't -- and I can't tell you, either, what it's meant to me these two years to believe you were going to marry him, and be told every week by some busybody that your engagement was on the point of being announced.

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Further, we affirmed that justice was doing one's own business, and not being a busybody; we said so again and again, and many others have said the same to us.

If we are asked to determine which of these four qualities by its presence contributes most to the excellence of the State, whether the agreement of rulers and subjects, or the preservation in the soldiers of the opinion which the law ordains about the true nature of dangers, or wisdom and watchfulness in the rulers, or whether this other which I am mentioning, and which is found in children and women, slave and freeman, artisan, ruler, subject,--the quality, I mean, of every one doing his own work, and not being a busybody, would claim the palm--the question is not so easily answered.

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So he set out and followed the same road which his brother had done, and met with the same elf, who stopped him at the same spot in the mountains, saying, as before, 'Prince, prince, whither so fast?' 'Mind your own affairs, busybody!' said the prince scornfully, and rode on.

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Some busybody has been reporting my conduct on a certain day.

It was just the right sort of food for the popular gossip that gaunt busybody had been picking up.

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There I should have been successful beyond a doubt if some busybody hadn't sent that cable to her husband.

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The reader may set me down as a hopeless busybody, when I confess how much this man stimulated my curiosity, and how often I endeavoured to break through the reticence which he showed on all that concerned himself.

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It was a serious thing to be in the power of this spiteful old busybody. But his next remark took a weight from my mind.

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All at once, yet somehow not so suddenly as to excite suspicion, Raffles had become the elderly busybody with nerves; why, I could not for the life of me imagine; and the policeman seemed equally at sea.

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But Malcolm, who has played the bumbling busybody for 24 years, visited Corrie's ITV studios in Manchester two weeks ago to discuss a gradual return next year.

Corrie legend Norris Coles set to return next year after actor Malcom Hebden's heart attack; Soap favourite Norris Coles set for dramatic return as Malcom Hebden recovers from a heart attack

But do not kid yourself, our busybody food police are looking at every opportunity to tax us more, and the sugar tax is just another ploy to take your cash out of your wallet without you noticing.

Food police will hit us in the pocket; Get in touch - tell us what you think Email: letters@birminghammail.co.uk Twitter: @birminghammail Facebook: facebook.com/birminghammail Post: Birmingham Mail, 60 Church Street, Birmingham B3 2DJ

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