Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The partially dried fruit of any of several varieties of the common plum, Prunus domestica.
- noun Any kind of plum that can be dried without spoiling.
- noun Slang An ill-tempered, stupid, or incompetent person.
- intransitive verb To make a facial expression exhibiting ill temper or disgust.
- intransitive verb To cut off or remove dead or living parts or branches of (a plant, for example) to improve shape or growth.
- intransitive verb To remove or cut out as superfluous.
- intransitive verb To reduce.
- intransitive verb To remove what is superfluous or undesirable.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A plum; in recent usage (especially in the western United States), a plum-suitable to be dried as a prune.
- noun The dried fruit of one of several varieties of the common plum-tree.
- To lop superfluous twigs or branches from (a vine, bush, or tree); trim with a knife.
- To lop off as superfluous or injurious; remove by cutting.
- To clear from anything superfluous: remove what is superfluous or objectionable from.
- To dress or trim, as birds their feathers; preen: also used figuratively.
- To lop off superfluous twigs or branches, as from a vine, bush, or tree.
- To arrange or dress the feathers with the bill: said of birds, and also used figuratively.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A plum; esp., a dried plum, used in cookery
- noun (Bot.) a large dark purple plum, of oval shape, often one-sided. It is much used for preserving, either dried or in sirup.
- noun (Bot.) The West Indian tree,
Prunus occidentalis . - noun (Bot.) the edible fruit of a sapindaceous tree (
Pappea Capensis ). - intransitive verb To dress; to prink; -used humorously or in contempt.
- transitive verb 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; toprune an essay. - transitive verb To cut off or cut out, as useless parts.
- transitive verb To preen; to prepare; to dress.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun obsolete A
plum . - noun The dried, wrinkled fruit of certain species of
plum . - noun slang An
old woman , especially awrinkly one. - verb transitive To remove excess material from a
tree orshrub ; totrim , especially to make more healthy or productive. - verb transitive, figuratively To
cut down orshorten (by the removal of unnecessary material); as, to prune a budget.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun dried plum
- verb weed out unwanted or unnecessary things
- verb cultivate, tend, and cut back the growth of
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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There's certainly no denying the family resemblance with those big eyes and lips -- we were once told that MK&A like to say the word "prune" when a photo is being taken to get just the right amount of pout happening, but that could be a rumor.
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Yes, redfox-I know how you feel about prunes ... and how a prune is like a cake.
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I even like the word prune -- calling prunes "dried plums" is precise but pretentious.
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Indira Gandhi - The future Indian prime minister is described as a "prune - bitter, kind of pushy, horrible woman."
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The world's most famous prune is French, but California grows its clones.
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The world's most famous prune is French, but California grows its clones.
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The world's most famous prune is French, but California grows its clones.
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If that has been repeated at other clubs, is it any surprise that money in football is what Sir Alan Sugar has scatologically termed "prune juice"?
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In my day every one born in Calif. was called a prune picker ..
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Those of us with a bit of eastern European culinary indoctrination swoon at the idea of prune-filled pastries.
Reading, Writing, Cooking and Crafting: The much maligned prune
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