nosey parker

English

Alternative forms

• nosy parker, nosey-parker, nosy-parker

Etymology

Unknown, 1890.

Noun

nosey parker (plural nosey parkers)

1. (UK, Ireland, colloquial) An overly inquisitive or prying person.
   • 1991, Kathleen Dayus, Where There's Life, London: Virago Press Ltd:

     Yer a lotta nosey parkers.

   Synonym: buttinski (US)

   Synonym: stickybeak (Australia, New Zealand)

Related terms

• busybody
• curtain twitcher
• kibitzer
• marplot
• meddler

Translations

prying person

• Catalan: manefla (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 八婆 (zh) (bāpó) (regional)

• Dutch: nieuwsgierig Aagje (nl) n
• French: fouinard (fr) m, fouinarde (fr) f
• German: neugierige Nase f, elender Schnüffler m, Topfgucker m
• Hungarian: minden lében kanál (hu), kotnyeles (hu)
• Irish: gobadán m
• Italian: ficcanaso (it) m
• Japanese: おせっかい屋 (おせっかいや, osekkaiya)
• Maori: ihu kurī
• Norman: futh'teux m (Jersey)
• Polish: ciekawski (pl) m
• Portuguese: enxerido (pt) m
• Russian: любопы́тная варва́ра f (ljubopýtnaja varvára) (male or female)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: њу̏шкало n

  Roman: njȕškalo (sh) n

• Spanish: metomentodo (es) m or f, metiche (es) m or f (Latin America)
• Welsh: busneswr m, busnesgi m, busnes pawb m

See also

• gatecrasher, interloper, peeping tom, persona non grata, encroacher, backseat driver, intruder, buttinsky

Verb

nosey parker (third-person singular simple present nosey parkers, present participle nosey parkering, simple past and past participle nosey parkered)

1. To snoop; to behave in an inquisitive manner.
   • 1944, Ernest Robertson Punshon, Secrets Can't be Kept, page 23:

     "I don't want to 'nosey parker'," he said, "but police have got to be told if there's anything wrong..."

   • 1979, LeRoy Lad Panek, Watteau's Shepherds: The Detective Novel in Britain, 1914-1940, page 189:

     Alleyn is no dabbler or dilettante whose hobby is criminology and who nosey parkers around and chases ambulances to break the grip of boredom with a spot of adventure.

   • 1995, Anne Worboys, Village Sins, page 144:

     The inspector opened his mouth to ask Fred what she had better tell, but Ivy flared, "We'd be out of business in no time if I nosey parkered on everyone I saw around at night."

   • 2004, David Robinson, An Expat's Life, Luxembourg & the White Rose, page 123:

     Now, I must admit I love nosey parkering around houses.