Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who prunes, or removes what is superfluous.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who prunes, or removes, what is superfluous.
  • noun (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of beetles whose larvæ gnaw the branches of trees so as to cause them to fall, especially the American oak pruner (Asemum mœstum), whose larva eats the pith of oak branches, and when mature gnaws a circular furrow on the inside nearly to the bark. When the branches fall each contains a pupa.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A person who prunes, or a tool used in pruning
  • noun Any of several unrelated beetles whose larvae attack the branches of trees

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a worker who thins out and trims trees and shrubs
  • noun a long-handled pruning saw with a curved blade at the end and sometimes a clipper; used to prune small trees

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From prune +‎ -er.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word pruner.

Examples

  • The calculations take milliseconds, so all that slows the pruner are the motors and tractor as they stop and start.

    unknown title 2009

  • If you are a "pruner," you will be convinced - as I am - that the hate speech provisions in federal and provincial human rights acts should be repealed.

    Canada Free Press 2009

  • When I returned Barbara has joined in the fun and was in the middle of donning wellies and get the 'cherry picker' now the only cherry pickers I've ever seen are those little crain things with a basket for humans that window cleaners sometimes use, I've also seen council employees use them to change light bulbs in displays in town centres and that type of thing - what Barbara came back with was something akin to what I would call a 'pruner' it was like a pair of shears on the end of a long poll with wires running down the poll so that you can move something your end and make the shears at the other end work!

    Snell-Pym » 2007 » October 2007

  • When I returned Barbara has joined in the fun and was in the middle of donning wellies and get the 'cherry picker' now the only cherry pickers I've ever seen are those little crain things with a basket for humans that window cleaners sometimes use, I've also seen council employees use them to change light bulbs in displays in town centres and that type of thing - what Barbara came back with was something akin to what I would call a 'pruner' it was like a pair of shears on the end of a long poll with wires running down the poll so that you can move something your end and make the shears at the other end work!

    Snell-Pym » Russet Apple Harvest 2007

  • "We want to give people the chance to do something they aren't normally allowed to do," said Saturday's instructor, David Fedczuk , a garden climber and pruner.

    Come, Climb a Tree (Just This Once) Jo Piazza 2011

  • Taking upon as most peculiar jobs as he could handle - pruner, workman, reaper, laborer - he still couldn't yield sufficient for nine mouths.

    Archive 2009-11-01 admin 2009

  • Use a hand pruner by reaching down into the shrub and cutting back the taller stems at a point inside the plant above a branching stem.

    Knowing when to prune is crucial for dependable flower blossoms Joel M. Lerner 2010

  • Taking upon as most peculiar jobs as he could handle - pruner, workman, reaper, laborer - he still couldn't yield sufficient for nine mouths.

    stole_bread @ 2009-10-10T00:25:00 admin 2009

  • Trade 29 is an attendant of public bathrooms (presumably for tips); 34 is a palm-tree pruner (apparently other trees will still be pruned by the state).

    So Much For Cuban Economic Reform Jos 2011

  • Rod Blagojevic makes me think if horrible missteps involving a pruner.

    The Emmy Awards Live Blog 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.