- 1to cut off some of the branches from a tree, bush, etc. so that it will grow better and stronger prune something When should you prune apple trees? He pruned the longer branches off the tree. prune something back The hedge needs pruning back. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adverbdrastically, hard, heavily, … See full entry See related entries: Gardening
- 2prune something (back) to make something smaller by removing parts; to cut out parts of something Staff numbers have been pruned back to 175. The railway companies have pruned their timetables (= there are fewer trains). Prune out any unnecessary details. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adverbdrastically, hard, heavily, … See full entry Word Originverb late 15th cent. (in the sense ‘abbreviate’): from Old French pro(o)ignier, possibly based on Latin rotundus ‘round’.Extra examples Prune the trees hard in the winter. The roses had been pruned back more severely. Their budgets have been drastically pruned.
prune
verbBrE BrE//pruːn//; NAmE NAmE//pruːn//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they prune BrE BrE//pruːn//; NAmE NAmE//pruːn//
he / she / it prunes BrE BrE//pruːnz//; NAmE NAmE//pruːnz//
past simple pruned BrE BrE//pruːnd//; NAmE NAmE//pruːnd//
past participle pruned BrE BrE//pruːnd//; NAmE NAmE//pruːnd//
-ing form pruning BrE BrE//ˈpruːnɪŋ//; NAmE NAmE//ˈpruːnɪŋ//
GardeningCheck pronunciation: prune
