Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Prune
Prune
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Pruned
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Pruning
.] [OE.
proine
, probably fr. F. provigner
to lay down vine stocks for propagation; hence, probably, the meaning, to cut away superfluous shoots. See Provine
.] 1.
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.
Taking into consideration how they [laws] are to be
pruned
and reformed. Bacon.
Our delightful task
To
To
prune
these growing plants, and tend these flowers. Milton.
2.
To cut off or cut out, as useless parts.
Horace will our superfluous branches
prune
. Waller.
3.
To preen; to prepare; to dress.
Spenser.
His royal bird
Prunes
the immortal wing and cloys his beak. Shakespeare
Prune
,Verb.
I.
To dress; to prink; -used humorously or in contempt.
Dryden.
Prune
,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
(Prunus domestica
), which produces prunes. (b)
The West Indian tree,
– Prunus occidentalis
. South African prune
(Bot.)
, the edible fruit of a sapindaceous tree (
Pappea Capensis
).Webster 1828 Edition
Prune
PRU'NE
,Verb.
T.
1.
To lop or cut off the superfluous branches of trees, to make them bear better fruit or grow higher, or to give them a more handsome and regular appearance.2.
To clear from any thing superfluous; to dress; to trim. His royal bird
Prunes the immortal wing, and cloys his beak.
Definition 2024
prune
prune
English
Noun
prune (plural prunes)
- (obsolete) A plum.
- The dried, wrinkled fruit of certain species of plum.
- (slang) An old woman, especially a wrinkly one.
Synonyms
- see Wikisaurus:old woman
Derived terms
Derived terms
|
|
Translations
plum — see plum
dried plum
|
|
old woman
Etymology 2
From Old French proignier (“to trim the feathers with the beak”), earlier prooignier, ultimately from Latin pro- ("front") + rotundus (“round”) 'to round-off the front'.
Verb
prune (third-person singular simple present prunes, present participle pruning, simple past and past participle pruned)
- (transitive) 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.
- Milton
- Our delightful task / To prune these growing plants, and tend these flowers.
- (transitive, figuratively) To cut down or shorten (by the removal of unnecessary material).
- to prune a budget, or an essay
- Francis Bacon
- taking into consideration how they [laws] are to be pruned and reformed
- (transitive, computer science) To remove unnecessary branches from a tree data structure.
- (obsolete) To preen; to prepare; to dress.
- Shakespeare
- His royal bird / Prunes the immortal wing and cloys his beak.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of John Dryden to this entry?)
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)
- Shakespeare
- (intransitive, informal) To become wrinkled like a dried plum, as the fingers and toes do when kept submerged in water.
- 2005, Alycia Ripley, Traveling with an Eggplant (page 111)
- I hardly left that spot in my pool that month even when my fingers pruned and chlorine dried out my skin.
- 2005, Alycia Ripley, Traveling with an Eggplant (page 111)
Derived terms
Translations
trim a tree or shrub
|
|
(figuratively) cut down or shorten
Anagrams
French
Etymology
From Old French prune, from Vulgar Latin prūna, feminine singular formed from the neutral plural of Latin prūnum.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pʁyn/
Noun
prune f (plural prunes)