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pester

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Pester is defined as to pick on or irritate.

(verb)

An example of pester is a boy pulling his little sister's hair over and over again.

See pester in Webster's New World College Dictionary

transitive verb

to annoy constantly or repeatedly with petty irritations; bother; vex
Obsolete to overcrowd; cram

Origin: < obs. impester < OFr empestrer, orig., to hobble a horse at pasture, entangle < VL *impastoriare < L in-, in- + VL *pastoria, shackle (see pastern): meaning infl. by pest

Related Forms:

pesterer noun

See pester in American Heritage Dictionary 4

transitive verb pes·tered, pes·ter·ing, pes·ters

To harass with petty annoyances; bother. See Synonyms at harass.

Origin:

Origin: Probably short for French empestrer, to constrain, embarrass (probably also influenced by pest)

Origin: , from Old French

Origin: , from Vulgar Latin *impāstōriāre

Origin: : Latin in-, in; see in-²

Origin: + Vulgar Latin *pāstōria, a hobble

Origin: , from Latin

Origin: , feminine of pāstōrius, of a herdsman (from pāstor, herdsman; see pā- in Indo-European roots)

Related Forms:

pesˈter·er noun

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