PARING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does paring mean? 

• PARING (noun)
  The noun PARING has 2 senses:

1. a thin fragment or slice (especially of wood) that has been shaved from something

2. (usually plural) a part of a fruit or vegetable that is pared or cut off; especially the skin or peel

  Familiarity information: PARING used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PARING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A thin fragment or slice (especially of wood) that has been shaved from something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

paring; shaving; sliver

Hypernyms ("paring" is a kind of...):

fragment (a piece broken off or cut off of something else)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "paring"):

splint (a thin sliver of wood)

turning (a shaving created when something is produced by turning it on a lathe)

Derivation:

pare (cut small bits or pare shavings from)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(usually plural) a part of a fruit or vegetable that is pared or cut off; especially the skin or peel

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Context example:

she could peel an apple with a single long paring

Hypernyms ("paring" is a kind of...):

object; physical object (a tangible and visible entity; an entity that can cast a shadow)

Domain usage:

plural; plural form (the form of a word that is used to denote more than one)

Derivation:

pare (strip the skin off)

 Context examples 

There was the comb I had contrived out of the stumps of the king’s beard, and another of the same materials, but fixed into a paring of her majesty’s thumb-nail, which served for the back.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)