Prune Definition

pro͝on
pruned, prunes, pruning
noun
prunes
A plum dried for eating.
Webster's New World
Any of various varieties of plum that can be dried without spoiling.
Webster's New World
A sour or disagreeable person.
Webster's New World

(slang) An old woman, especially a wrinkly one.

Wiktionary
verb
pruned, prunes, pruning
To remove dead or living parts from (a plant) so as to increase fruit or flower production or improve the form.
Webster's New World
To make a facial expression exhibiting ill temper or disgust.
American Heritage
To cut away or remove unnecessary parts.
Webster's New World
To cut out or get rid of as being unnecessary.
Webster's New World
To reduce or diminish by removing what is unnecessary.
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Prune

Noun

Singular:
prune
Plural:
prunes

Origin of Prune

  • Middle English prouinen from Old French proignier perhaps from Vulgar Latin prōretundiāre Latin prō- in front pro–1 Latin rotundus round (from rota wheel ret- in Indo-European roots)

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • 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'.

    From Wiktionary

  • From Old French prune, from Latin prÅ«num, from Ancient Greek προῦνον (prounon), variant of προῦμνον (proumnon, “plum"), a loanword from a language of Asia Minor.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English from Old French from Vulgar Latin prūna from Latin prūnum plum

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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