prune
UK/pɹuːn/US/pɹun/
prune noun: a plum.
Noun
prune (plural prunes)
- A plum.
- The dried, wrinkled fruit of certain species of plum.
- Something wrinkly like a prune.
- We are not free when we are in the grip of the false conditioning that decrees that we need sex. We are not free if we believe the culture's ominous warnings that we will become "horny" (what a callous, offensive word) and frustrated and neurotic and finally shrivel up into prunes and have to...1970, Dana Densmore, “Without You And Within You”, in No More Fun & Games, volume 4, page 55
- An old woman, especially a wrinkly one.
Verb (1)
prune (third-person singular simple present prunes, present participle pruning, simple past and past participle pruned)
- 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.2005, Alycia Ripley, Traveling with an Eggplant, page 111
Verb (2)
prune (third-person singular simple present prunes, present participle pruning, simple past and past participle pruned)
- 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 yeeldec. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- 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 reformed1605, Francis Bacon, “(please specify |book=1 or 2)”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas...
- 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.1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 229
- 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.
- To remove unnecessary branches from a tree data structure.
- To trim the feathers with the beak.
- To preen; to prepare; to dress.
- She gins her feathers fowle disfigured
Prowdly to prune, and sett on every side.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC - 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.1677 (first performance), John Dryden, “Epilogue”, in All for Love: Or, The World Well Lost. A Tragedy, […], [London]: […] Tho[mas] Newcomb, for Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC
- She gins her feathers fowle disfigured
prune meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
prune in Hindi
- to prune, trim, weed out
- छाँटना chā̃ṭnā
- prune, dried plum
- आलू बुख़ारा ālū buxārā
prune in Tamil
- மட்டந்தட்டல், கத்தரித்தல்
prune in Urdu
- چھٹائی کرنا, کترنا
prune in Bengali
- ছাঁটা
More languagesFewer languages
- prune in Malayalam
- ചെലവു ചുരുക്കുക, അത്യാവശ്യമല്ലാത്തത് മാറ്റിക്കളയുക, അനാവശ്യ വസ്തുക്കൾ മാറ്റുക
- prune in Kannada
- ಸವರು, ರೆಂಬೆಯನ್ನು ಕತ್ತರಿಸು, ಸಮರಿಬಿಡು, ಸಮರು
- prune in Gujarati
- ઝારવું jhārvũ
- prune in Odia
- ଛାଟିବା chāṭibā
- prune in Assamese
- ডল dol
- prune in Arabic
- أَجَاص ʔajāṣ, عَوِينَة ʕawīna, عَوِينَة مُجَفَّفَة, خَوْخ مُجَفَّف ḵawḵ mujaffaf
- prune in Persian
- هرس کردن haras kardan, خشاوه کردن xašâve kardan
- prune in Vietnamese
- nho khô
Examples of prune in a sentence
- They doctored their apple trees by vigorous pruning, and now the dwarfed trees are easier to pick.
- After a couple of years without pruning, the shrub had grown overlarge and completely obscured the window.
- Cut off whippy epicormal growths, especially if any have grown because of your last pruning.
Synonyms of prune
Forms of prune
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | prunes |
| alternative form (obsolete) | proin |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | prunes |
| present participle | pruning |
| past participle | pruned |
| past | pruned |
Origin of prune
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.
Words formed from prune
- 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
Words that rhyme with prune
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- blue moon
- boon
- monsoon
- noon
- pontoon
- raccoon
- tribune
- attune
- dragoon
- hoon
- immune
- picayune
- platoon
- soon
- swoon
- tycoon
- afternoon
- baboon
- commune
- doubloon
- harpoon
- jejune
- pantaloon
- picaroon
- shalloon
- bassoon
- buffoon
- cocoon
- dabloon
- entune
- gadroon
- hewn
- impugn
- jargoon
- june
- lacune
- last chance saloon
- lune
- macaroon
- man in the moon
- maroon
- poon
- puccoon
- ratoon
- scone
- toon
- trial balloon
- troon
Questions about prune
- What does prune mean?
- Prune means a plum.
- What is prune in Hindi?
- Prune in Hindi is छाँटना (chā̃ṭnā), आलू बुख़ारा (ālū buxārā). See Prune meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is prune?
- Prune can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce prune?
- Prune is pronounced /pɹuːn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of prune?
- The plural of prune is prunes.
Words near prune in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: prune (page history and authors); आलू बुख़ारा (Hindi) (page history and authors); prune (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prune (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prune (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prune (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prune (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ઝારવું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ଛାଟିବା (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-prune.ogg.
Cite this entry: “prune.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prune. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.