PRUNE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does prune mean? 

• PRUNE (noun)
  The noun PRUNE has 1 sense:

1. dried plum

  Familiarity information: PRUNE used as a noun is very rare.

• PRUNE (verb)
  The verb PRUNE has 2 senses:

1. cultivate, tend, and cut back the growth of

2. weed out unwanted or unnecessary things

  Familiarity information: PRUNE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRUNE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Dried plum

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

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

dried fruit (fruit preserved by drying)

• PRUNE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they prune    ... he / she / it prunes   
Past simple: pruned   
Past participle: pruned   
-ing form: pruning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cultivate, tend, and cut back the growth of

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

clip; crop; cut back; dress; lop; prune; snip; trim

Context example:

dress the plants in the garden

Hypernyms (to "prune" is one way to...):

thin out (make sparse)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "prune"):

shear (cut with shears)

poll; pollard (convert into a pollard)

pinch; top (cut the top off)

disbud (thin out buds to improve the quality of the remaining flowers)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They prune the trees

Derivation:

pruner (a long-handled pruning saw with a curved blade at the end and sometimes a clipper; used to prune small trees)

pruner (a worker who thins out and trims trees and shrubs)

pruning (the act of trimming a plant)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Weed out unwanted or unnecessary things

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

cut; prune; rationalise; rationalize

Context example:

We had to lose weight, so we cut the sugar from our diet

Hypernyms (to "prune" is one way to...):

do away with; eliminate; extinguish; get rid of (terminate, end, or take out)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

Further tests showed that the transplanted RPE cells were pruning photoreceptors via phagocytosis, another RPE function that helps keep photoreceptors healthy.

(Researchers rescue photoreceptors, prevent blindness in animal models of retinal degeneration, National Institutes of Health)

These findings, along with evidence from other studies, suggested to the researchers that C4 might work with other components of the classical complement cascade to promote synaptic pruning.

(A biological mechanism for schizophrenia, NIH)

The astrocytes' job is to prune unnecessary synapses (connections) in the brain to refresh and reshape its wiring.

(Lack of Sleep Makes Brain to Literally Eat Itself, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Moreover, recent studies in mice have shown that during sleep – including REM sleep – the brain selectively prunes synaptic connections made between neurons involved in certain types of learning.

(The brain may actively forget during dream sleep, National Institutes of Health)

So much has religion done for me; turning the original materials to the best account; pruning and training nature.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He paid a dollar each on account to the four tradesmen, and in his kitchen fried steak and onions, made coffee, and stewed a large pot of prunes.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)