prune /pɹuːn/verb 8noun 4forms 3 verb8 •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. •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 •To remove unnecessary branches from a tree data structure. •(figurative) To cut down or shorten (by the removal of unnecessary material).taking into consideration how they [laws] are to be pruned and reformed — 1605 •(Internet) 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. •(informal) 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 •(no longer used) To trim the feathers with the beak. •(no longer used) To preen; to prepare; to dress.She gins her feathers fowle disfigured Prowdly to prune, and sett on every side. — 1590 noun4 •The dried, wrinkled fruit of certain species of plum. •(figurative) Something wrinkly like a prune. •(slang) An old woman, especially a wrinkly one. •(no longer used) A plum. formspruned · pruning · prunes
