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prune 1 (prn)
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n.
1.
a. The partially dried fruit of any of several varieties of the common plum, Prunus domestica.
b. Any kind of plum that can be dried without spoiling.
2. Slang An ill-tempered, stupid, or incompetent person.
intr.v. pruned, prun·ing, prunes
Slang
To make a facial expression exhibiting ill temper or disgust: “Their faces prune at the slightest provocation” (James Wolcott).
[Middle English, plum, prune, from Anglo-Norman, from Vulgar Latin *prūna, plum, from Latin prūna, plural (reinterpreted in Vulgar Latin as feminine singular) of prūnum, plum; akin to Greek proumnon, probably from a substrate language of Asia Minor; compare Greek Prumnēssos, name of a city in Phrygia, perhaps originally an Anatolian name meaning “place of plums”.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
prune 2 (prn)
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v. pruned, prun·ing, prunes
v.tr.
1. To cut off or remove dead or living parts or branches of (a plant, for example) to improve shape or growth.
2. To remove or cut out as superfluous.
3. To reduce: prune a budget.
v.intr.
To remove what is superfluous or undesirable.
[Early Modern English, from Middle French prougner, from Old French prooignier, perhaps from pro-, variant of por-, pur-, away, forth (from Latin prō-, in front; see PRO–1) + rooignier, to trim (from Vulgar Latin *rotundiāre, to round off, from Latin rotundus, round; see ret- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots).]
pruner n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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