busybody

noun

Etymology

From busy + body.

  1. derived from *bʰewdʰ- — “to be awake, observe
  2. inherited from *bodag — “body, trunk
  3. inherited from bodiġ
  4. inherited from body
  5. compounded as busybody — “busy + body

Definitions

  1. Someone who interferes with others

    Someone who interferes with others; one who is nosy, intrusive or meddlesome.

    • Se that none of you ſuffre as a murtherer / or as a thefe / or an evyll doar / or as a buſybody in wother mens matters.
    • Candidly speaking, I thought her a little busy-body; but her father, blind like other parents, seemed perfectly content to let her wait on him, and even wonderfully soothed by her offices.
    • 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.
  2. A device consisting of three mirrors that, when attached to the wall of a house, allows…

    A device consisting of three mirrors that, when attached to the wall of a house, allows an occupant to see who is at the front door without a direct line of sight.

  3. To meddle or interfere.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for busybody. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA