Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Australia, New Zealand An overly inquisitive person, a nosey parker.
  • noun Australia, New Zealand An act of looking at or watching something, especially something which does not directly concern the one looking.
  • verb Australia, New Zealand To pry or snoop.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From sticky +‎ beak; presumably from the metaphor of sticking one′s beak ("nose") where it is not wanted (compare nosy).

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Examples

  • I must have missed the link, and I desperately want to have a stickybeak!

    Cheeseburger Gothic » Ladies Lounge 2009

  • I had a stickybeak around the LJ archives, discovered that I didn't have to have a paid account to set up a community I'm a cheapskate, aren't I? so I set up the community:

    Done! mikandra 2008

  • This is Mrs Tishell, the biggest stickybeak in Portwenn.

    NEWS.com.au | Top Stories 2011

  • I'd clearly missed the boat, but being a stickybeak I thought I'd take a peek inside anyway ahead of the official opening that night.

    AustralianIT.com.au | Top Stories 2010

  • After a bit of a stickybeak at the Queen's Scottish residence of Holyroodhouse, we made the most of the remaining daylight walking the length of the Royal Mile through the Old Town back to the castle, stopping by the Heart of Midlothian.

    TravelPod.com TravelStream™ — Recent Entries at TravelPod.com 2010

  • The doors of Kirribilli House, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's official Sydney home and neighbouring Admiralty House, the governor-general's Sydney home were thrown open to the public for a bit of a stickybeak.

    Latest News - Yahoo!7 News 2009

  • So, along with jukjuk and dagadaga, there is loli 'candy,' 'nokimap,' 'to tire' (the innocent meaning of knocked up in Australian English is 'fatigued'), stikibik 'mind someone else's business' (Australian stickybeak), krik 'creek,' and of course, bush.

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol VIII No 4 1981

  • Being the incurable stickybeak that I am, I went back thru the archives ’til I found the thread you mentioned.

    Cheeseburger Gothic » Newly renovated Ladies Lounge. 2010

  • Perhaps the funniest discussions Tessa I had were about terms like “stickybeak,” and then even American terms I somehow didn’t recognize as being American, possibly because they’re regional.

    “The Mona Lisa”–A Collaboration with Tessa Kum for Halo: Evolutions 2009

Comments

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  • Nosey Parker; Lookie Loo.

    January 26, 2011

  • Gladys Kravitz

    January 26, 2011