prune
UK /pɹuːn/ · US /pɹun/ noun, verb
Forms prunes pruning pruned proin
- noun (obsolete) A plum.
- noun The dried, wrinkled fruit of certain species of plum.
- noun (figurative) Something wrinkly like a prune.
- noun (slang) An old woman, especially a wrinkly one.
- verb (intransitive, informal) To become wrinkled like a dried plum, as the fingers and toes do when kept submerged in water.
- verb (transitive, horticulture) To remove excess material from a tree or shrub; to trim, especially to make more healthy or productive. “A good grape grower will prune the vines once a year.”
- verb (transitive, figuratively) To cut down or shorten (by the removal of unnecessary material). “to prune a budget, or an essay”
- verb (transitive) To remove (something unnecessary) for the sake of cutting down or shortening that which it was previously part of.
- verb (transitive, Internet slang) To remove participation status from or contributed material attributed to users usually deemed inactive or undesirable from an interactive computer service or website for the sake of housekeeping.
- verb (transitive, computer science) To remove unnecessary branches from a tree data structure.
- verb (obsolete, falconry) To trim the feathers with the beak.
- verb (obsolete) To preen; to prepare; to dress.
Synonyms
old woman snip clip crop trim lop dress cut back cut rationalize rationalise
Etymology
From Middle English prune, from Old French prune, from Vulgar Latin *prūna, feminine singular formed from the neutral plural of Latin prūnum, from Ancient Greek προῦνον (proûnon), variant of προῦμνον (proûmnon, “plum”), a loanword from a language of Asia Minor. Doublet of plum.
From Middle English prunen, prounen, proinen, from Old French proignier (“to trim the feathers with the beak”), earlier prooignier. Likely influenced by Middle French rogner, Old French rooignier (“cut, trim”) (from Latin rotundo?), and possibly by Old French provainier (“provine”) (Latin propaginem? whence French provigner). The relation to the noun is thus unclear.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To lop or cut off the superfluous parts, branches, or shoots of; to clear of useless material; to shape or smooth by trimming; to trim: as, to prune trees; to prune an essay. Thackeray.
- verb To cut off or cut out, as useless parts.
- verb To dress; to prink; -used humorously or in contempt. Dryden.
- noun A plum; esp., a dried plum, used in cookery; as, French or Turkish prunes; California prunes. German prune (Bot.), a large dark purple plum, of oval shape, often one-sided. It is much used for preserving, either dried or in sirup. Prune tree. (Bot.) (a) A tree of the genus Prunus (P. domestica), which produces prunes. (b) The West Indian tree, Prunus occidentalis.
Etymology [OE. proine, probably fr. F. provigner to lay down vine stocks for propagation; hence, probably, the meaning, to cut away superfluous shoots. See Provine.]
Etymology [F. prune, from L. prunum a plum. See Plum.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “prune”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details