prune

noun

/pɹuːn/UK/pɹun/CA/pɹʉːn/

Etymology

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.

derived from προῦνον
derived from prūnum
derived from *prūna✻
derived from prune
inherited from prune

Definitions

A plum.
The dried, wrinkled fruit of certain species of plum.
Something wrinkly like a prune.
›+ 9 more definitionsshow fewer
1. An old woman, especially a wrinkly one.
2. 5
  To become wrinkled like a dried plum, as the fingers and toes do when kept submerged in…
  To become wrinkled like a dried plum, as the fingers and toes do when kept submerged in water.
  - I hardly left that spot in my pool that month even when my fingers pruned and chlorine dried out my skin.
3. 6
  To remove excess material from a tree or shrub
  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.
  - But poore old man, thou prun'ſt a rotten tree, / That cannot ſo much as a bloſſome yeelde
  - Our delightful task / To prune these growing plants, and tend these flowers.
4. 7
  To cut down or shorten (by the removal of unnecessary material).
  - to prune a budget, or an essay
  - taking into consideration how they [laws] are to be pruned and reformed
5. 8
  To remove (something unnecessary) for the sake of cutting down or shortening that which…
  To remove (something unnecessary) for the sake of cutting down or shortening that which it was previously part of.
  - When internal dissension and a decline in popularity set in, Johnny was pruned from the Crests.
6. To remove participation status from or contributed material attributed to users usually…
  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.
7. To remove unnecessary branches from a tree data structure.
8. To trim the feathers with the beak.
9. 12
  To preen
  To preen; to prepare; to dress.
  - She gins her feathers fowle disfigured Prowdly to prune, and sett on every side.
  - For 'tis observed of every scribbling man, / He grows a fop as fast as e'er he can; / Prunes up, and asks his oracle, the glass, / If pink or purple best become his face.

The neighborhood

synonymold woman
neighborfruit

Derived

German prune, mirabelle prune, prune belly syndrome, prunelike, prune plum, prune tree, pruney, pruno, pruny, South African prune, alpha-beta pruning en, overprune, prunable, pruner, pruning, reprune, underprune, unpruned

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at prune. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

A definitional loop anchored at prune. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at prune

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA