Other forms: parried, parrying
To parry is to block a blow and push it away. Parry a thrust, parry the blow, parry the question.
In fencing it is a defined defensive action, numbered and taught, and the riposte is the attack that follows it — parry and riposte is the basic exchange. Figuratively, to parry a question is to deflect it without answering, which is a politician's skill. Note that a parry deflects where a block absorbs, and that is the whole distinction; and that the word comes from the French for prepare.
1verbparryTo block a blow and push it away.
“The swordsman parried the blow and stepped quickly to the side.”
2verbdeflectTo deflect a question without answering it.
“The minister parried the reporters' questions about the scandal with vague replies.”
parry is a deflecting move.
French parez is the imperative of parer, to ward off or prepare, from Latin parare. Prepare, apparatus and parasol come from the same preparing — a parasol wards off the sun.
Medieval Latin
parāta — preparation, parade
Old French
paree — preparation, ceremony, parade
Middle English
*parree
English, today
parry
Built from
From earlier parree, from Middle English parree, paree, from Old French paree (“preparation, ceremony, parade”), from Medieval Latin parāta (“preparation, parade”), from paro (“to ward off, guard, defend, prepare, get ready”). More at pare. The English verb is taken from the noun. a doublet of parade. Alternative etymology derives the verb parry from French parez, the imperative form of parer (“to fend off”), ultimately from the Medieval Latin parāre. See above.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA