Do Brits still use 'to prize' to mean 'to pry,' as in "He prized it from the man's grip."?

quote:

Do Brits still use 'to prize' to mean 'to pry,' as in "He prized it from the man's grip."?

Yes. But I would spell it "prise".

I agree with Richard

And what about "purchase" meaning "grip?" I used to hear this colloquially in South Carolina as a child.

A perfectly good word to my mind.

Purchase is a perfectly good use to mean 'grip' in my opinion. OneLook defines it (inter alia) as "the mechanical advantage gained by being in a position to use a lever". I wouldn't say it's especially colloquial.

Seems to me that this thread has quickly come full circle:
SHU: prize/pry/grip
R.E.: prise
Asa: purchase/grip
Arnie: purchase/grip/lever
D.H. (me): lever = pry as in "pry bar" or even as in the local colloquial "bait and pry" meaning "Fulcrum and lever".

A goodly set of words:

• price < ME pris 'value, price, reward' < OF < L pretium
  
• prize 'something offered or won' < ME pris
  
• prize 'something seized by force as booty' < ME prise 'taking of something' < OF prendre < L prehendo 'to seize'
  
• prize 'to move by force; leverage' < ME prise 'instrument for prying' ? < ME prise 'taking of something'
  
• pry 'to look closely' < ME prien 'to peer in' < ?
  
• pry 'to raise or move with a lever', variant of prize 'to move by force'
  
• purchase 'to buy' (also the grip to prevent slippage sense or a tackle or lever; < ME purchasen 'to pursue, purchase' < OF purchaser (< pur- 'forth' + chacier 'to chase' < VL *captio 'to catch').