prunen.

Brit.

/pruːn/, U.S.

/prun/

Forms: Middle English–1500s proyne, Middle English– prune, 1500s preune, 1500s prewen, 1500s prewn, 1500s proin, 1500s prone, 1500s prown, 1500s–1600s proine, 1600s prewyn, 1600s pruine, 1600s pruinne, 1600s prun (Scottish), 1600s pruon, 1600s– pruan (now Caribbean), 1600s– pruen (nowU.S. regional), 1600s– pruin (nowU.S. regional), 1700s (1800s– English regional (Sussex)) pruant, 1900s– proan (Caribbean), 1900s– prooen (U.S. regional), 1900s– pwin (Caribbean).

Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French prune.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman and Middle French prune (French prune ) fruit of the plum tree (late 12th cent. in Old French; in Anglo-Norman probably also ‘dried plum’: see note) < post-classical Latin pruna (11th cent.), alteration (arising from reinterpretation of the neuter plural as feminine singular) of classical Latin prūnum (neuter) plum, of unknown origin, perhaps a loanword, as is Hellenistic Greek προῦμνον plum. (Compare classical Latin prūnus (feminine), Hellenistic Greek προύμνη plum tree: see prunus n.). Compare Old Occitan pruna (c1200), Catalan pruna (14th cent.), Spanish pruna (1410; rare), Italian prugna (a1320). Compare plum n.In early use it is often difficult to determine whether the word is being used in sense 1a or 1b, particularly when referring to laxative properties (see e.g. quot. a1398 at sense 1a). The same difficulty can be seen in Anglo-Norman; compare the following discussion:1998 W. Rothwell in French Studies 52 6–7 From the thirteenth century onwards medical texts in Anglo-French had been recommending prunes as a laxative, much as they are still advocated in modern medicine... In these cases the dried state of the fruit is not made specific, but on occasion the context makes clear that ‘prunes’, not ‘plums’, are meant: prunes de outre mer quarante quatre livres. Being imported from abroad, these prunes must have been dried. It is uncertain whether the following should be taken as showing the Anglo-Norman or Middle English word:1345–6 in F. R. Chapman Sacrist Rolls Ely (1907) II. 130 In ij lb. de Prunnes empt.

†a. The fruit of the plum tree, a plum. Also: a plum tree, Prunus × domestica. Obsolete except as in sense 1c.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > fruit or a fruit > stone fruit > [noun] > plum

plumeOE

prunea1398

perdrigon1582

the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular types of fruit > [noun] > stone fruit > plum

plumeOE

prunea1398

the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular fruit-tree or -plant > [noun] > trees or plants bearing stone fruit > plum-tree

plumeOE

plum treeeOE

prune1585

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 321^v Some þinges þat draweþ laxeþ also, and beþ feruent..as it fareþ by prunes, sloon, and Thamarindis.

?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 123^v Þise medicynez so blackeþ..vryne of a hounde kept in 5 or 6 daiez or cortices of prunez [?c1425 Paris plomme tree; L. pruni] cocte to þiknez of hony.

1528 T. Paynell tr. Arnaldus de Villa Nova in Joannes de Mediolano Regimen Sanitatis Salerni sig. Q iiij Prunes that be nat rype be stypticall.

1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie ii. vii. 37 Gardens..filled with..prunes, abricots, dates & oliues.

1624 J. Smith Gen. Hist. Virginia ii. 26 The fruit..they..preserue..as Pruines.

1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §319 In Drying of Peares, and Prunes, in the Ouen, and Remouing of them often as they begin to Sweat.

1658 E. Phillips New World Eng. Words at Jubeb A kind of Pruan [1696 Pruen, 1706 Prune].

1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 247 Peach, Apricot, Prunello's, Figs, Prunes,..and all those we call Wall-Fruit.

1719 Accomplisht Lady's Delight (ed. 10) 21 To make Conserve of Pruants.

b. A dried plum, now produced commercially in parts of Europe, California, and elsewhere, and eaten cooked or uncooked. (Now the usual sense.)Prunes imported from France were formerly also called French plums.damask prune: see the first element.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > fruit or a fruit > dried fruit > [noun] > prune

prunea1400

prunelloa1450

plum-damas1503

Brignole1653

French plum1788

a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 74 (MED) Drie prunis [v.r. prunes] of damascenes.

a1475 Liber Cocorum (Sloane) (1862) 41 Do dates þerto..and raysyns and prunus also.

1483 in J. P. Collier Househ. Bks. John Duke of Norfolk & Thomas Earl of Surrey (1844) 338 On Crystemas even my Lord resseyved be the caryer..iiij. lb proynes.

1584 T. Cogan Hauen of Health cv. 92 The Damasin Plummes are woont to be dryed and preserued as figges, and are called in English Prunes.

1603 G. de Malynes Englands View 141 Such places from whence wee bring very corruptible Commodities of wines, raisins , prunes, currans & such like.

1670 H. Wolley Queen-like Closet ccxxv. 310 Garnish with stewed Prunes, and some plumped Raisins.

1752 G. Berkeley Further Thoughts Tar-water in Wks. (1871) III. 503 Stewed prunes, and other diet of an opening kind.

1832 N. Amer. Rev. Oct. 43 Almonds, currants, prunes & figs.

1870 J. Yeats Nat. Hist. Commerce 182 Dried plums, under the names of prunes and French plums, form an important article of commerce.

1893 E. H. Barker Wanderings by S. Waters 295 Upon the sill were plums laid out on wooden trays to dry in the sun and become what English people call prunes.

1958 N. Levine Canada made Me i. 50 The roast of lean meat with prunes and potatoes.

2001 Frederick (Maryland) Post 2 Feb. a3/1 Plum growers have won permission from the government to start calling prunes ‘dried plums’.

c. Any of various varieties of plum grown specifically for drying, with firm flesh, high sugar content, and usually a purple skin. Cf. earlier prune plum n. at Compounds 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > fruit or a fruit > stone fruit > [noun] > plum > other types of plum

bullacea1375

myxe?1440

prunelloa1450

bullace-fruit1530

wheat-plum1538

wheaten plum1542

pear plum1573

finger plum1577

perdrigon1582

damson plum1584

apple-plum1601

bullace-plum1608

amber plum1629

Christian1629

queen mother1629

cinnamon-plum1664

date1664

Orleans1674

Chickasaw plum1760

blue gage1764

golden drop1772

beach-plum1785

quetsch1839

egg-plum1859

hog plum1863

bladder-plum1869

prune1872

Carlsbad plum1885

apricot plum1893

the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular types of fruit > [noun] > stone fruit > plum > other types of

white plumc1330

bullacea1375

myxe?1440

prunelloa1450

bullace-fruit1530

horse plum1530

plum1530

wheat-plum1538

wheaten plum1542

choke-plum1556

pear plum1573

finger plum1577

scad1577

skeg1601

merchant1602

bullace-plum1608

malacadonian1608

prune plum1613

date plum1626

mussel plum1626

amber plum1629

black plum1629

primordian1629

queen mother1629

winter crack1629

myrobalan1630

Christian1651

Monsieur's plum1658

cinnamon-plum1664

date1664

primordial1664

Orleans1674

mirabelle1706

myrobalan plum1708

Mogul1718

mussel1718

Chickasaw plum1760

blue gage1764

magnum bonum1764

golden drop1772

beach-plum1785

sweet plum1796

winesour1836

wild plum1838

quetsch1839

egg-plum1859

Victoria1860

cherry plum1866

bladder-plum1869

prune1872

sour plum1874

Carlsbad plum1885

horse-jug1886

French plum1939

1872 R. G. McClellan Golden State 331 So far the cultivation of prunes has been very limited.

1902 Daily Chron. 18 Sept. 5/1 After three years the prunes grow, the deep-blue ripe fruit being most plentiful at the end of August and beginning of September.

1958 Royal Hort. Soc. Fruit Year Bk. 106 Second in importance to apples are plums, of which two types, the prunes and the gages, are widely planted.

2005 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 26 June 62 He has put 800 acres into the wetlands program and continues to grow prunes, plums and cotton on another 800 acres.

2. A dark purple colour, resembling that of a prune. Also prune purple.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > colour > named colours > purple or purpleness > [noun] > reddish purple

prune1873

1873 Young Englishwoman June 286/2 Marine blue, bronze, green, prune, maroon, and violet, are the favourite shades.

1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 2 Sept. 4/1 Prune and a large variety of greys are likewise on the list of fashionable colours.

1890 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 17 263 The flowers of Thamnosma montanum are ‘prune-purple’.

1932 Amer. Jrnl. Bot. 19 400 The background of the throat in young flowers is light phlox purple with the veining on the posterior side prune purple.

1960 Indiana (Pa.) Evening Gaz. 30 Aug. 4/7 Daytime colors are so dark as to be almost funeral. You can take your pick of black, brown, prune purple or steel grey.

1994 Eaton's '94 Best Fall Shopping (Toronto, Ont.) Autumn 26/1 (caption) Spun silk in plumwhip, rose mauve, prune, cabernet, ebony, [etc.].

3. colloquial (chiefly U.S.). to be full of prunes: to talk nonsense, to make unfounded claims or assertions.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > use language nonsensically [verb (intransitive)]

roya1450

to talk (or speak) at rovers1542

nonsense1822

squiddle1824

twaddle1825

fudge1834

buncomize1871

to be full of prunes1887

waffle1900

jive1928

bullshit1942

to talk out of one's arse1973

1887 Los Angeles Times 3 Feb. 2/2 Burns..told the Judge that the court was ‘full of prunes’, and raised sheol generally in court.

1908 Chicago Heights Star 12 Mar. 2/2 Sometimes a fellow who seems to be full of ideas is merely full of prunes.

1953 R. B. Goodwin Good to be Black vii. 75 You're full of prunes.

2005 J. Corrigan in E. J. Weiner What goes Up xx. 297 Anybody who tells you that they know exactly why the market came back is full of prunes.

a. prunes-and-prism adj. (also prunes-and-prisms) [a phrase notionally or actually spoken aloud in order to form the lips into an attractive shape (see quots. 1846 and 1856)] designating a prim or affected facial expression or manner of speaking. In extended use: affected mannerisms, superficial accomplishments.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > speech > manner of speaking > [noun] > affected or mincing manner of speech

toning1708

prunes-and-prism1888

plumminess1919

the mind > language > speech > manner of speaking > [adjective] > affected or mincing

finitive1640

pruney and prismatic (or prismy)1857

prunish1877

plummy1881

prunes-and-prism1888

prunes and prismy1931

the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > [noun] > acquired skill > an accomplishment > minor

by-arta1643

prunes-and-prism1888

1846 People's Jrnl. 2 288/2 We will give them [sc. ladies] a recipe for a pretty expression of the mouth—let them place it as if they were going to say prunes.

1856 C. Dickens Little Dorrit (1857) ii. v. 356 Father is rather vulgar, my dear... Papa..gives a pretty form to the lips. Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes and prism, are all very good for the lips: especially prunes and prism. You will find it serviceable in the formation of a demeanour, if you sometimes say to yourself in company or on entering a room, ‘Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes, and prism, prunes and prism.’]

1888 Brit. Weekly 28 Sept. 353/1 He has none of the ‘prunes and prism’ style, and is, perhaps, addicted to strong language.

1892 W. G. Jenkins in Amer. Ann. Deaf Apr. 91 Surface accomplishments, the prunes and prisms of education.

c1909 D. H. Lawrence Collier's Friday Night (1934) i. 8 She says this in a very quaint ‘prunes-and-prisms’ manner, with her chin in the air and her hand extended.

1979 Daily Tel. 22 Nov. 14/7 She regales us with an amusing chronicle of Lady Lytton's attempts to find a congenial companion among the straightlaced Indian Civil Service wives, whose ‘prunes and prisms’ expressions she found most off-putting.

1996 Independent (Nexis) 1 Nov. 19 Ms Parry doesn't have to adopt a different parodically prunes-and-prism posh voice as Ms Linehan does when quoting wisps of the classics.

b. prunes and prismy adj. rare characterized by or suggestive of a prim or affected manner of speech or behaviour (cf. pruney and prismatic (or prismy) at pruney adj. 1).

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > [adjective] > affectedly proper

moy1487

strait-laced1554

mima1586

prim1702

prick-eared1707

prudish1717

priggish1731

primsy1786

trig1793

missish1795

missy1805

pershittie1808

missyish1818

missy-like1831

primmy1857

pruney and prismatic (or prismy)1857

antiseptic1891

blue-nosed1893

prissy1894

Nice Nelly1922

prissified1923

prunes and prismy1931

the mind > language > speech > manner of speaking > [adjective] > affected or mincing

finitive1640

pruney and prismatic (or prismy)1857

prunish1877

plummy1881

prunes-and-prism1888

prunes and prismy1931

1931 Time & Tide 4 July 802/2 A tougher-minded generation than ours may find it altogether too prunes-and-prismy.

a. colloquial (originally U.S.). A disagreeable, disliked, or unattractive person; a foolish, or inept person; (now also) an old person.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > hatred > dislike > [noun] > one who is disliked

warling1546

disfavourite1611

distaster1623

fatherling1624

disagreeable1785

prune1895

the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupid, foolish, or inadequate person > person of weak intellect > confused, muddled person > [noun]

mafflardc1450

juffler15..

dromedary1567

madbrain1570

batie buma1586

addle-head1592

blunderkin1596

nit1598

addle-pate1601

hash1655

blunderbuss1692

blunderhead1692

shaffles1703

fog-pate1732

blunderer1741

puzzle-pate1761

slouch1767

étourdi1768

botch1769

puddle1782

bumble1789

scatter-brain1790

addle-brain1799

puzzle-head1815

shaffler1828

chowderhead1833

muddlehead1833

muddler1833

flounderer1836

duffer1842

muddle-pate1844

plug1848

incompetent1866

schlemiel1868

dinlo1873

drumble-dore1881

hodmandod1881

dub1887

prune1895

foozler1896

bollock1916

messer1926

Pilot Officer (also P.O.) Prune1942

spaz1965

spastic1981

1880 Crimson (Harvard Univ.) 23 Jan. 101/1 The collegiate rowdy is known as a scrub... At Columbia a scrub is dubbed a ploot, a prune, or a plum.]

1895 W. C. Gore in Inlander Dec. 112 Prune, one who is disagreeable, and irritable.

1941 S. J. Baker Pop. Dict. Austral. Slang 57 Prune, a simpleton, fool.

1944 ‘N. Shute’ Pastoral ii. 35 He wished..that he knew what it was that worried her, whether it was some prune that she had left at her last station.

1961 G. Smith Business of Loving viii. 201 Snap out of it, you moonstruck old prune.

1974 J. Nichols Milagro Beanfield War i. 55 What kind of charge does a wrinkled little old prune like you..get out of walking around with..your pockets full of bullets?

1978 J. Krantz Scruples xiii. 368 I think she's a bit of a prune.

2000 Independent (Nexis) 22 Jan. 20 I felt a bit of a prune answering questions put by a video image.

b. Air Force slang. Originally and chiefly as Pilot Officer (also P.O.) Prune. (The name of) a character in a series of Air Force information cartoons during the Second World War (1939–45); (hence) an incompetent or negligent pilot. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupid, foolish, or inadequate person > person of weak intellect > confused, muddled person > [noun]

mafflardc1450

juffler15..

dromedary1567

madbrain1570

batie buma1586

addle-head1592

blunderkin1596

nit1598

addle-pate1601

hash1655

blunderbuss1692

blunderhead1692

shaffles1703

fog-pate1732

blunderer1741

puzzle-pate1761

slouch1767

étourdi1768

botch1769

puddle1782

bumble1789

scatter-brain1790

addle-brain1799

puzzle-head1815

shaffler1828

chowderhead1833

muddlehead1833

muddler1833

flounderer1836

duffer1842

muddle-pate1844

plug1848

incompetent1866

schlemiel1868

dinlo1873

drumble-dore1881

hodmandod1881

dub1887

prune1895

foozler1896

bollock1916

messer1926

Pilot Officer (also P.O.) Prune1942

spaz1965

spastic1981

1942 Tee Emm (Air Ministry) 2 67 All because the Prunes of the Air Force will ignore the existence of A.A. Danger Areas.

1942 T. Rattigan Flare Path i. 30 They call me P.O. Prune—he's a character in The Training Manual—sort of crazy, good-tempered, half-witted sort of bloke..and I—well, I kind of act P.O. Prune for them.

1943 C. H. Ward-Jackson It's a Piece of Cake 49 Prune, Pilot Officer, a fictitious character who behaves as every officer should not, created by Squadron Leader Anthony Armstrong and the artist RAFF (L. A. C. W. Hooper)... Prune was created to teach pupils and other flying personnel how things should not be done.

1988 Times (Nexis) 6 Nov. I'm sorry, too, I said the pilots in it were all Prunes. Pilot Officer Prune, the brilliant but fictitious creation of the RAF training manual, who showed all young pilots how not to do it, may have been a crumb. But he was not a creep.

2005 Jrnl. (Newcastle) (Nexis) 26 Oct. 10 The RAF had its share of PO Prunes but the fellow in trouble would make it clear and the fire engine..would be at hand.

Compounds

C1.

a. General attributive.

prune orchard n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > cultivation of fruit > [noun] > orchard or fruit garden > type of

apple-garth1268

oliveyarda1382

olivetc1384

apple orchard?c1400

nut garden1535

oil-garden1535

olive garden1577

lemon-orchard1611

meloniere1658

orange grove1688

melonry1717

nutterya1729

peachery1789

lemon-grove1830

nut grove1840

prune orchard1847

lemon-garden1864

seed orchard1903

1847 N. Amer. Rev. Apr. 494 As he stopped at a prune orchard to buy some fruit, an old man called from a tree.

1921 Chambers's Jrnl. Mar. 173/1 Prune-orchards do not need irrigating.

1999 Bristol Evening Post (Nexis) 13 Mar. 9 Prune orchards are dedicated to growing plums that can be turned into prunes.

prune packer n.

ΚΠ

1905 Daily News 8 Dec. 6 The French prune-packers, it is said, often import Californian prunes,..repack them,..and sell them to the Americans.

2001 Scotsman (Nexis) 3 Feb. 8 Under the new ruling, prune packers will be required to change the name of the product in two phases.

prune rancher n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > cultivation of fruit > [noun] > one who > specific fruit

melonist1667

orangist1693

prune rancher1908

rhubarber1917

1908 Nebraska State Jrnl. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 8 Sept. 6/4 The eighteen-year-old son of a prune rancher, yesterday made a daring and unheralded aeronautic ascent that thrilled hundreds of spectators.

1921 Chambers's Jrnl. Mar. 174/2 With proper pruning and cultivation the prune-rancher has an assured..living.

2003 Times (Shreveport, Lousiana) (Nexis) 30 July 3 b From 1939 to 1944 he was an Alexander Valley prune rancher.

prune sauce n.

ΚΠ

1773 O. Goldsmith She stoops to Conquer ii. 28 To men that are hungry, pig, with pruin sauce, is very good eating.

1875 Burlington (Iowa) Weekly Hawk-eye 21 Jan. 6/6 I handed him apples, fried cakes, prune sauce, raisin cake and pickled peaches; but nothing would stop his howling.

1918 C. Sandburg Cornhuskers 80 Then they go to the bunk cars and eat mulligan and prune sauce.

2005 Independent (Nexis) 22 Aug. 33 Massimiliano Alajmo of Padua, who serves Gorgonzola ice cream with prune sauce, which sounds repulsive but is reputedly delicious.

prune stone n.

ΚΠ

1562 W. Bullein Bk. Use Sicke Men f. lxi^v, in Bulwarke of Defence To gargarisme these thynges in his mouth and throte: and to put Prune stones in cold water, and chafe them with the tong up and doune in his mouthe.

1680 W. Charleton Enq. Human Nature iii. 84 Such things as any way promote the flowing forth of the Humor Salivalis or spittle, though they be neither actually cold nor moist in themselves; such as Prune stones, polisht Crystal, pieces of gold.

1733 S. Whatley tr. S. Tyssot de Patot Trav. & Adventures James Massey xiii. 234 I found 4 Stones as big as Prune-Stones in the Bladder of the Gall, which was as yellow as Wax.

1868 Proc. Essex Instit. in Communications Essex Instit. (1871) 6 2 Section of Prune stone.

1929 Stevens Point (Wisconsin) Daily Jrnl. 29 July 4/3 I have had a prune stone in my throat for years.

2005 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 10 Nov. c4 He..managed to supplement near starvation rations by sucking any nutrition from the prune stones and old bones he found.

b. Similative.

prune-coloured adj.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > colour > named colours > purple or purpleness > [adjective] > reddish purple

prune-coloured1792

prune-dark1941

1792 Times 19 Jan. 2/1 A prune coloured Drap de Vigogne coat and waistcoat.

1872 Young Englishwoman Nov. 595/1 A hat of duck-green turquoise is trimmed with prune-coloured velvet.

2004 Guardian (Nexis) 8 May (Travel section) 8 Swish, stylish interiors—all matt prune-coloured walls, grey suede and polished maple.

prune-dark adj.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > colour > named colours > purple or purpleness > [adjective] > reddish purple

prune-coloured1792

prune-dark1941

1941 L. MacNeice Plant & Phantom 64 With prune-dark eyes, thick lips, jostling each other.

2003 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 25 Mar. 14 The prune-dark, radioactive Hollywood tan acquired the old-fashioned way, in the sun.

C2.

prune belly n. Medicine the congenital absence of the muscles of the wall of the abdomen, resulting in a wrinkled appearance of the belly; an abdomen exhibiting this; (more fully prune belly syndrome) a syndrome characterized by this and other malformations, esp. of the urogenital tract, seen chiefly in boys.

ΚΠ

1967 D. I. Williams & G. V. Burkholder in Jrnl. Urol. 98 244 (title) The prune belly syndrome.

1967 Jrnl. Urol. 98 244/1 The term prune belly is a short and descriptive name sometimes applied to patients with congenital absence of the abdominal muscle.

1990 N.Y. Times Mag. 19 Aug. 16/2 Children with no muscles in their abdominal walls are said to have prune bellies.

2004 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 28 Apr. a3/3 The two youngest children were born with..Prune Belly Syndrome. It's an abnormality characterized by lack of abdominal muscles causing the skin of the belly to wrinkle like a prune.

prune brandy n. a liqueur prepared by distilling prunes.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > distilled drink > brandy > [noun] > brandy not from grapes > plum brandy

prune brandy1862

slivovitz1885

tsuica1927

1862 Testimony 28 in Civil War Pamphlets (Loyal Publ. Soc.) Two casks, containing prune brandy.

1934 Times Evening Herald (Olean, N.Y.) 27 July 11/1 The state liquor commission ordered an investigation of the feasibility manufacture of prune brandy.

1992 Independent (Nexis) 17 Dec. 10 He and his father have started making a prune brandy which needed Fr100,000-worth of equipment to store and distil.

prune-faced adj. that has or makes a wrinkled, scowling, or disapproving face likened to a prune.

ΚΠ

1921 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 13 Nov. (Mag.) 6/3 I'm no prune-faced old maid.

1966 G. M. Gressley Bankers & Gentlemen i. 18 Little prune-faced Daniel Drew, with a wicked scowl, terrorizing the Erie Railroad.

1995 Daily News (Halifax, Nova Scotia) 15 Oct. 38 Hester immediately alienates the prune-faced townspeople with her outspokenness.

2004 W. Greatshell Xombies xi. 106 In the locket was a trimmed photo of a prune-faced newborn.

prune picker n. (a) a person who picks prunes; (b) U.S. colloquial a Californian.

ΘΚΠ

the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of America > native or inhabitant of North America > native or inhabitant of U.S.A. > [noun] > specific state > states

Marylander1640

Rhode Islander1665

Jerseyman1679

Pennsylvanian1685

Carolinian1705

Georgian1732

Marylandian1750

Jersey blue1758

Californian1762

Louisianian1775

Mississippian1775

Acadian1776

Vermonteer1778

Kentuckian1779

Vermontese1783

Indianian1784

Cohee1786

Kentuck1789

Virginian1797

Michiganian1813

Michigan1814

Tennessean1815

Ohioan1818

Illinoian1819

Ohian1819

Missourian1820

buckeye1823

Vermonter1825

Hoosier1826

red horse1833

sucker1833

wolverine1833

puke1834

corn-cracker1835

Texian1835

Alaskan1836

Texan1837

Michigander1838

Oregonian1838

Rackensack1839

Arkansian1844

badger1844

Bay Stater1845

Lone Star Stater1845

Oregonese1845

tar-boiler1845

weasel1845

web foot1845

Alabaman1846

Iowanc1848

Arkansan1851

Minnesotian1851

Washingtonian1852

Minnesotan1854

Nebraskan1854

Kansian1855

Utahan1855

Floridan1856

fly-up-the-creek1857

Dakotian1861

Coloradan1862

Coloradian1862

Texican1863

Coloradoan1864

tarheel1864

Cajun1868

Kansan1868

Montanian1869

Floridian1870

mudcat1872

New Jerseyan1872

Arkansawyer1874

longhorn1876

Mainer1879

New Jerseyite1885

prune picker1892

Hawaiian1893

Oklahoman1894

Tex1909

blue hen's chicken1921

Tejano1925

Geechee1926

Arkie1927

sooner1930

wyomingite1930

New Mexican1940

Okie1948

1892 Los Angeles Times 28 Sept. 7/5 They..found out that Williams had about as much use for prune pickers as he had for more booze.

1913 Our Navy (U.S.) Jan. 36/1 A cutter race was pulled off by crews from the three cruisers on Thanksgiving Day,..which was won by the Maryland's crew, the ‘Prune Pickers’ [i.e. the crew of the California] capturing third place.

1918 L. E. Ruggles Navy Explained 112 Prune picker, a native of California. So called because of the abundant prune crops.

1952 Chicago Tribune 2 Aug. (TV and Radio section) 1/1 Hope Ryden was a model; Robert Pollak, a stock broker..and Tom Duggan, a prune picker. It takes all kinds of people.

1998 C. B. Allison in J. L. Kincheloe et al. White Reign (2000) xiii. 239 Because my sister was born in California, Mother called her a prune picker.

prune plum n. chiefly North American any of several varieties of plum, (in later use) esp. one grown for drying.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular types of fruit > [noun] > stone fruit > plum > other types of

white plumc1330

bullacea1375

myxe?1440

prunelloa1450

bullace-fruit1530

horse plum1530

plum1530

wheat-plum1538

wheaten plum1542

choke-plum1556

pear plum1573

finger plum1577

scad1577

skeg1601

merchant1602

bullace-plum1608

malacadonian1608

prune plum1613

date plum1626

mussel plum1626

amber plum1629

black plum1629

primordian1629

queen mother1629

winter crack1629

myrobalan1630

Christian1651

Monsieur's plum1658

cinnamon-plum1664

date1664

primordial1664

Orleans1674

mirabelle1706

myrobalan plum1708

Mogul1718

mussel1718

Chickasaw plum1760

blue gage1764

magnum bonum1764

golden drop1772

beach-plum1785

sweet plum1796

winesour1836

wild plum1838

quetsch1839

egg-plum1859

Victoria1860

cherry plum1866

bladder-plum1869

prune1872

sour plum1874

Carlsbad plum1885

horse-jug1886

French plum1939

1613 G. Markham Eng. Husbandman: 1st Pt. i. ii. 43 Now for the stones of Plumbes, & other stone fruit, you shall vnderstand that they be of two kindes, one simple and of themselues, as the Rye-plumbe, Wheate-plumbe, Damson, Prune-plumbe, Horse-clogge, Cherry, and such like.

1651 R. Child Large Let. in S. Hartlib Legacie 23 The great Damsin, or Pruin-Plum, which groweth well and beareth full in England.

1830 Reg. Pennsylvania 9 Oct. 237/2 Horticultural Society... Mr. Mease sent blue Prune Plums, of good flavour.

1911 U. P. Hendrick et al. Plums of N.Y. 221 A Prune Plum was noted in America by Coxe in 1817, but it is impossible to say whether he meant the German Prune.

2002 Post–Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) 27 Oct. 27/3 Prune plums are high in sugar and are generally free-stone, which makes it easier to remove the pits.

prune tree n. (a) a plum tree; (in later use) spec. one of a variety having fruit suitable for drying; (b) Caribbean the tree Prunus occidentalis, having bark used medicinally and kernels used in the production of liqueur, and yielding useful timber.

ΚΠ

1580 T. Newton Approoued Med. f. 69^v The leaues & Buds of the Prune tree haue sensible tartnes.

1617 Janua Linguarum 98 The prune tree and cherry tree do wither with frost.

1788 D. Munro Treat. Med. & Pharmaceut. Chymistry III. 224 French, or common Prunes (the fruit of the prune tree)..are commonly used as cooling and gentle laxatives.

1850 J. Macfadyen Flora Jamaica II. 5 Cerasus occidentalis. Prune tree.

1972 C. D. Adams Flowering Plants Jamaica 3/3 P[runus] occidentalis..Prune or Pruan Tree.

1995 Jrnl. Econ. Hist. 55 795 California fruit growers engaged in a..process of experimentation to find the most appropriate plant stocks... Plums and prune trees were brought in from France and Japan.

prune whip n. a sweet meringue dish made with prunes and beaten egg white.

ΚΠ

1879 Gaz. & Bull. (Williamsport, Pa.) 16 Dec. Prune Whip. Sweeten to taste and stew three-fourths of a pound of prunes; when pretty cold add whites of four eggs beaten stiff.

1942 ‘R. West’ Black Lamb II. 26 Their coffee-brown beauty which fastidious nostrils, secretive lips and eyes like prune-whip made refined and romantic.

2005 Press Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.) (Nexis) 25 Dec. c1 When I'm 85 years old, eating prune whip in a retirement home, I'll remember that game.

Derivatives

ˈprunery n. Air Force slang (now rare) incompetence or foolhardiness in flying (cf. sense 5b).

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > ability > inability > [noun] > for what is required > personal > and stupidity

prunery1942

1942 Observer 4 Oct. 7/2 The Royal Air Force has adopted him [sc. P.O. Prune] now, and an official magazine is devoted to the purpose of trying to cure him of his prunery!

1943 J. L. Hunt & A. G. Pringle Service Slang 53 Prune, a pilot who takes unreasonable risks, and generally loses his neck through his prunery.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

pruneadj.

Brit.

/pruːn/, U.S.

/prun/

Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: prune n.

Etymology: < prune n.

Of a dark purple colour, resembling that of a prune.

ΚΠ

1873 Times 1 Feb. 15/2 (advt.) Dinner Dress, prune velvet and white lace &c.

1899 Westm. Gaz. 20 May 1/3 Miss Debby arrayed in a prune silk gown.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. xvii. [Ithaca] 658 A sofa upholstered in a prune plush.

1976 Vogue Jan. 74/1 Prune silk crepe de chine with tiny white print.

2002 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 14 Sept. 29 Prune silk and velvet skirt, £60.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

prunev.¹

Brit.

/pruːn/, U.S.

/prun/

Forms:

α. Middle English proygne, Middle English pruyne (south-west midlands), Middle English–1500s proigne, Middle English–1600s proyne, 1500s proign, 1500s–1600s proine, 1500s–1600s pruine. c1390 Pistel of Swete Susan (Vernon) 81 Þe popeiayes perken and pruynen [v.rr. prunyn, prenen] for proude.c1410 (c1395) G. Chaucer Merchant's Tale (Cambr. Dd.4.24) (1902) l. 2011 Damyan..kembeth he proyneth [v.rr. preyneth, prayneth, prunyht, pruneth] him and pyketh He doth al that his lady lust and lyketh.1508 J. Fisher Treat. Penyt. Psalmes sig. oo.iiij^v There she proyneth & setteth her feders in ordre.1575 G. Turberville Bk. Faulconrie 133 That they may..proine and picke their feathers.1588 T. Kyd tr. T. Tasso Housholders Philos. f. 11 Those [women] that are faire with that filthy spunging, proigning, painting and pollishing themselues.a1637 B. Jonson Under-woods ii. v. 35 in Wks. (1640) III Where I sit and proyne my wings After flight.

β. Middle English prowne, Middle English– prune, 1500s–1600s prewne. ▸ a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vi. 2203 Into an Egle he gan transforme And flyh and sette him on a raile..there he pruneth him and piketh.a1475 Bk. Hawking (Harl. 2340) in Studia Neophilol. (1944) 16 11 Put her oute agayn to prowne and spalch herself.1592 W. Warner Æneidos in Albions Eng. 195 A hunting was generally appoynted,..the Standes were prewned; the Toyles pitched.a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Loves Pilgrimage iii. ii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Bbbbbbbb3^v/2 Dare she think..My love so fond..That I must take her prewnings; stoop at that She has tyr'd upon.1737 Songs Costume (Percy Soc.) 220 Adorn thy mind the more within, And prune thy person less.1858 Atlantic Monthly July 171/1 Smooth-plumaged wax-wings are pruning their feathers in the tamarac-trees.1994 People (Nexis) 24 Apr. 46 How can I get my budgie to have a bath? He prunes himself every day, losing lots of small feathers, is very nervous and if I try to pick him up he pecks me very hard.

γ. Scottish pre-1700 pronȝe, pre-1700 prounȝe, pre-1700 pruinȝe, pre-1700 prunȝa, pre-1700 prunȝe, pre-1700 prunȝie, pre-1700 prwnȝe. ?1507 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen (Rouen) in Poems (1998) I. 51 I wald me prunȝa plesandly in precius wedis.1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid v. iii. 50 A standand place quhar skarthis with ther beikis, Forgane the son, glaidlie thaim pronȝe and bekis.a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 21 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 95 Birdis..Pransand and prunȝeand be paire and be paire.1568 A. Scott Poems (1896) xxxiv. 95 Swa ladeis will no^t sounȝe With waistit wowbattis rottin, Bot prowdly thay will prounȝe, Quhair geir is to be gottin.1571 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xxxvii. 56 Persaue..þe papingo þat prwnȝeis.a1585 A. Montgomerie Flyting with Polwart 86 As proud as ȝee prunȝie, ȝour pennes sall be plucked.

prunev.²

Brit.

/pruːn/, U.S.

/prun/

Forms:

α. 1500s–1600s proin, 1500s–1600s proine, 1500s–1600s proyne, 1600s proyn.

β. 1500s– prune, 1600s prewn, 1600s pruin, 1600s pruine, 1600s pruyn, 1600s pruyne.

Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymons: French prougner, prooignier.

Etymology: < Middle French prougner to cut branches or twigs from (a vine, tree, shrub, etc.) in order to regulate growth and promote flowering or fruit production (1507; 13th cent. in Old French as prooignier; French regional (Norman) progner ), further etymology uncertain; perhaps < pro , variant of por- (see pur- prefix) + rooignier royn v., although the lack of any evidence for an earlier form *porroignier might be seen to argue against this.It has also been suggested that Old French prooignier represents a development from the same base as provigner provine v., phonetically and semantically influenced by rooignier royn v. With the form history compare prune v.¹ It is uncertain whether the following quot. shows an earlier example of the present word or a figurative use of prune v.¹:?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 154 I xal prune þat paphawk and prevyn hym as a pad.

a. transitive. To cut branches or twigs from (a vine, tree, shrub, etc.), in order to regulate growth and promote flowering or fruit production. Occasionally with of and down.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > [verb (transitive)] > trees: prune or lop

sneda800

shredc1000

crop?c1225

purgec1384

parea1398

shear1398

shridea1425

dodc1440

polla1449

twist1483

top1509

stow1513

lop1519

bough?1523

head?1523

poll-shred1530

prune1547

prime1565

twig1570

reform1574

disbranch1575

shroud1577

snathe1609

detruncate1623

amputate1638

abnodate1656

duba1661

to strip up1664

reprune1666

pollard1670

shrub1682

log1699

switch1811

limb1835

preen1847

to cut back1871

shrig1873

brash1950

summer prune1980

α.

1547 Certain Serm. or Homilies sig. Jiv As long as a man doth proyne his vynes, doth digge at the rotes, and doth laie freshe yearth to them, he hath a mynde to them, he perceyueth some token of fruitefulnes.

1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique i. f. 26^v He is counted no good gardener, that..doeth diligently proyne his old trees, and hath no regard either to ympe or graffe young settes.

1572 L. Mascall tr. D. Brossard L'Art et Maniere de Semer iii, in Bk. Plant & Graffe Trees 14 When trees shalbe thus proined they shall bring great Cyons from their rootes, which shall be franke and good to replant.

1613 G. Markham Eng. Husbandman: 1st Pt. ii. viii. 70 When you proyne him [sc. a vine] you shall cut away all the olde stocke.

1670 W. Hughes Compl. Vineyard 15 In Germany..they Proin not their Vines the first year.

β. 1548 T. Cranmer Catechismus f. ccxxxi Euerye braunche that beareth fruyt he wyll prune that it maye bring forth more fruit.1575 G. Fenton Golden Epist. f. 52^v The tree..by the high waye geues more shaddow to the passenger, then fruite to the owner that prunes it.1612 J. Smith Map of Virginia i. 11 Vines..covered with fruit, though never pruined nor manured.1664 J. Evelyn Kalendarium Hortense 65 in Sylva Prune now your Spanish Jasmine.1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 98. ¶1 Like Trees new lopped and pruned.a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. i. 239 We prune and poll and cut our trees into unnatural shapes.a1832 G. Crabbe Poet. Wks. (1834) III. 22 We prune our hedges, prime our slender trees.1870 J. Yeats Nat. Hist. Commerce 76 In France, the vine is pruned down to the size of a gooseberry bush.1911 F. H. Burnett Secret Garden x. 95 Once or twice a year I'd go an' work at 'em [sc. roses] a bit—prune 'em an' dig about th' roots.1992 News of World 15 Nov. 44/1 Thick, established plants can be pruned by cutting out about one third of all stems.

b. intransitive. To cut back or trim a tree or other plant.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > [verb (transitive)] > trees: prune or lop > branches: prune or lop

sneda800

shredc1000

crop?c1225

prune1572

shrig1601

head1989

1572 L. Mascall tr. D. Brossard L'Art et Maniere de Semer iii, in Bk. Plant & Graffe Trees 12 When your graffes be well taken on the stocke..ye must proyne, or cut the braunche of commonly in winter.

1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft ix. ii. 169 Times and seasons to sowe, to plant, to proine.

1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion iii. 47 Heere set, and there they sowe; here proine, and there they plant.

1653 R. Sanderson Serm. Newport 14 What Husbandman would Plow, and Sow, and Plant, and Prune,..if he did not hope..to Inne the fruits?

1719 G. London & H. Wise J. de la Quintinie's Compl. Gard'ner (ed. 7) i. 2 There is daily some new Thing to be done, as to Sow, Plant, Prune, Pallisade.

1774 C. Dibdin Waterman ii. 32 The scythe to mow the grass is made..The knife to prune, to dig the spade.

1842 J. C. Loudon Suburban Horticulturist 705 Gardeners, when pruning for wood, cut farther back than when pruning for fruit.

1884 Harper's Mag. Apr. 735/1 While the majority of our neighbours prune in March, some say fall or winter is the best time.

1938 Amer. Home Jan. 68/2 (advt.) How to Store Roots, Bulbs, etc., for Winter. How to Prune, Disbulb, etc.

1990 Org. Gardening Nov. 69 Except for lanky shoots, which need shortening to keep them from arching to the ground, prune by cutting branches off at ground level.

c. transitive. To cut off (branches, boughs, shoots, etc.). Also with off and in figurative context.

ΚΠ

α.

a1625 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Two Noble Kinsmen (1634) iii. vi. 242 Doe men proyne The straight yong Bowes that blush with thousand Blossoms.

1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §432 A Tree..[with] the lower boughes onely maintained, and the higher continually proined off.

β. 1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene v. xi. sig. X3 Like fruitlesse braunches, which the hatchets slight Hath pruned from the natiue tree, and cropped quight. 1599 Bp. J. King Lect. Ionas (new ed.) vi. 89 Pruning away the superfluous boughes of misgovernment & tyrannie.1639 J. Woodall Treat. Gangrena in Surgeons Mate (rev. ed.) 390 After the dead bowes are pruned off.1657 R. Austen Treat. Fruit-trees (ed. 2) 50 Do not prune off the side Branches, lest the body of the plant be too small.c1680 E. Waller On Earl of Roscommon 9 Horace will our superfluous Branches prune.1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry (1721) II. 78 If the Moss is much and long..it may..do well to prune off the greatest part of the Branches.1786 T. Jefferson Observ. on Démeunier's Manuscript in Writings (1984) 585 They find it necessary then to preserve so much of their institution as might continue to support this foreign branch, while they should prune off every other which would give offence to their fellow citizens.1830 J. Baxter Libr. Agric. & Hort. Knowl. 55 [They] should have their bottom side-shoots carefully pruned, cutting them close to their stem.1860 Amer. Agriculturist 19 366/2 If at any time a gap occurs by accident among the limbs of the tree, it may be filled up by pruning the adjoining branches to a bud on the side towards the gap.1978 E. Birney Fall by Fury in Sat. Night July–Aug. 68/1 I was climbing the tall beech to prune dead limbs that overhung the summer home.1994 H. Chappell Oysterback Tales 92 She whips out her secateurs, pruning the withered head off a branch of love-in-a-mist.

2. figurative and in extended use.

a. transitive. To cut back, trim, or reduce (anything); to remove something from (a person or thing); esp. to remove (something superfluous or undesirable); to rid of unnecessary or unwanted elements.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > reduce in quantity, amount, or degree [verb (transitive)] > curtail > of something superfluous

prune1565

to cut back1943

trim1966

the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > longitudinal extent > shortness > make short(er) [verb (transitive)] > (as if) by cutting

crop?c1225

dockc1380

cutc1385

trunk?1440

coll1483

scut1530

to cut, trim, etc. short1545

prune1565

bobtail1577

curtail1580

lop1594

decurtate1599

imp1657

truncate1727

abridge1750

bob1822

α.

1565 J. Jewel Replie Hardinges Answeare vi. 368 It is neither indifferent, nor true dealinge, thus to nippe, and to proine the Doctours saieinges.

1608 G. Markham & L. Machin Dumbe Knight iii. sig. F^v Hee proind him well and brought him vp to learning.

1640 J. Howell Δενδρολογια 50 They might oppresse, spoyle, rob, peele, proyne, and grubbe them up at pleasure.

β. 1600 H. Roberts Haigh for Deuonshire xxv. sig. K3^v He..so pruned them, that they had neither money, Iewell or apparell left.1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Eee2 Howe they [sc. laws] are to bee pruned and reformed from time to time. 1660 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. III. iv. 6 When I considered, how difficult it were so to prune it [sc. a treatise], as to please all persons.1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 135. ¶10 Some..Authors..began to prune their Words of all superfluous Letters.1797 R. Southey Lett. from Spain xiv. 251 [The lamp] has three branches as usual;..a little extinguisher, a pointed instrument to raise the wick, and a small pincers to prune it..are suspended by brazen chains between the branches.1838 W. H. Prescott Hist. Reign Ferdinand & Isabella II. i. xx. 213 Pruning it of all superfluous phrases.1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd II. xix. 224 Her exuberance of spirit was pruned down.1970 Railway Mag. Oct. 546/1 The locomotive-hauled stock of British Railways has been drastically pruned in recent years.2003 BusinessWeek 13 Jan. 102/2 Weak global growth..plus increased production outside of OPEC..are pruning OPEC's market share.

b. transitive. To excise or remove (anything superfluous or undesirable). Also with away, off, and out.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > deduction > deduct [verb (transitive)] > something superfluous

prune1955

?1565 A. Hartwell tr. W. Haddon Sight of Portugall Pearle sig. Bi I haue nowe espied your aduersaries, whom you must needes haue pruned of, and cast on the dounghill, as the very poyson of a common wealth.

1625 S. Purchas Pilgrimes I. To Rdr. sig. ¶5 This Method by way of Voyages often repeates the same Countries..(though I haue often pruned repetitions).

1632 E. Reynolds Explic. 110th Psalme 141 Meanes of humility and newnesse of life, by which our faith is exercised and excited, our corruptions pruned, our diseases cured.

1703 J. Drake Historia Anglo-Scotica 192 The superfluous Temporal Estates..disordinately spent by some of the fat and dissolute Clergy, might be pruned away.

1766 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. II. v. 77 Even magna carta itself..only pruned the luxuriances that had grown out of the military tenures.

1836 Southern Literary Messenger Aug. 560/1 It is merely proposed..to prune off..those portions of the study which appear to demand a capacity to speak and write them.

1869 H. F. Tozer Res. Highlands of Turkey II. 117 Establishing a standard and pruning away deformities [in language].

1902 W. James Varieties Relig. Experience ii. 51 How can religion..be the most important of all human functions..if every several manifestation of it in turn have to be corrected and sobered down and pruned away?

1955 Bull. Atomic Scientists Mar. 94/2 Undoubtedly, these will be pruned out in the next edition.

1992 N.Y. Times 14 Sept. a18/1 The House and Senate versions were heavy-handed and needlessly costly. But then conferees pruned much of the excess.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

n.a1398

adj.1873

v.¹c1390

v.²1547

单词	prune
释义	prunen. Brit. /pruːn/, U.S. /prun/ Forms: Middle English–1500s proyne, Middle English– prune, 1500s preune, 1500s prewen, 1500s prewn, 1500s proin, 1500s prone, 1500s prown, 1500s–1600s proine, 1600s prewyn, 1600s pruine, 1600s pruinne, 1600s prun (Scottish), 1600s pruon, 1600s– pruan (now Caribbean), 1600s– pruen (nowU.S. regional), 1600s– pruin (nowU.S. regional), 1700s (1800s– English regional (Sussex)) pruant, 1900s– proan (Caribbean), 1900s– prooen (U.S. regional), 1900s– pwin (Caribbean). Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French prune. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman and Middle French prune (French prune ) fruit of the plum tree (late 12th cent. in Old French; in Anglo-Norman probably also ‘dried plum’: see note) < post-classical Latin pruna (11th cent.), alteration (arising from reinterpretation of the neuter plural as feminine singular) of classical Latin prūnum (neuter) plum, of unknown origin, perhaps a loanword, as is Hellenistic Greek προῦμνον plum. (Compare classical Latin prūnus (feminine), Hellenistic Greek προύμνη plum tree: see prunus n.). Compare Old Occitan pruna (c1200), Catalan pruna (14th cent.), Spanish pruna (1410; rare), Italian prugna (a1320). Compare plum n.In early use it is often difficult to determine whether the word is being used in sense 1a or 1b, particularly when referring to laxative properties (see e.g. quot. a1398 at sense 1a). The same difficulty can be seen in Anglo-Norman; compare the following discussion:1998 W. Rothwell in French Studies 52 6–7 From the thirteenth century onwards medical texts in Anglo-French had been recommending prunes as a laxative, much as they are still advocated in modern medicine... In these cases the dried state of the fruit is not made specific, but on occasion the context makes clear that ‘prunes’, not ‘plums’, are meant: prunes de outre mer quarante quatre livres. Being imported from abroad, these prunes must have been dried. It is uncertain whether the following should be taken as showing the Anglo-Norman or Middle English word:1345–6 in F. R. Chapman Sacrist Rolls Ely (1907) II. 130 In ij lb. de Prunnes empt. 1. †a. The fruit of the plum tree, a plum. Also: a plum tree, Prunus × domestica. Obsolete except as in sense 1c. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > fruit or a fruit > stone fruit > [noun] > plum plumeOE prunea1398 perdrigon1582 the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular types of fruit > [noun] > stone fruit > plum plumeOE prunea1398 the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular fruit-tree or -plant > [noun] > trees or plants bearing stone fruit > plum-tree plumeOE plum treeeOE prune1585 a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 321^v Some þinges þat draweþ laxeþ also, and beþ feruent..as it fareþ by prunes, sloon, and Thamarindis. ?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 123^v Þise medicynez so blackeþ..vryne of a hounde kept in 5 or 6 daiez or cortices of prunez [?c1425 Paris plomme tree; L. pruni] cocte to þiknez of hony. 1528 T. Paynell tr. Arnaldus de Villa Nova in Joannes de Mediolano Regimen Sanitatis Salerni sig. Q iiij Prunes that be nat rype be stypticall. 1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie ii. vii. 37 Gardens..filled with..prunes, abricots, dates & oliues. 1624 J. Smith Gen. Hist. Virginia ii. 26 The fruit..they..preserue..as Pruines. 1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §319 In Drying of Peares, and Prunes, in the Ouen, and Remouing of them often as they begin to Sweat. 1658 E. Phillips New World Eng. Words at Jubeb A kind of Pruan [1696 Pruen, 1706 Prune]. 1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 247 Peach, Apricot, Prunello's, Figs, Prunes,..and all those we call Wall-Fruit. 1719 Accomplisht Lady's Delight (ed. 10) 21 To make Conserve of Pruants. b. A dried plum, now produced commercially in parts of Europe, California, and elsewhere, and eaten cooked or uncooked. (Now the usual sense.)Prunes imported from France were formerly also called French plums.damask prune: see the first element. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > fruit or a fruit > dried fruit > [noun] > prune prunea1400 prunelloa1450 plum-damas1503 Brignole1653 French plum1788 a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 74 (MED) Drie prunis [v.r. prunes] of damascenes. a1475 Liber Cocorum (Sloane) (1862) 41 Do dates þerto..and raysyns and prunus also. 1483 in J. P. Collier Househ. Bks. John Duke of Norfolk & Thomas Earl of Surrey (1844) 338 On Crystemas even my Lord resseyved be the caryer..iiij. lb proynes. 1584 T. Cogan Hauen of Health cv. 92 The Damasin Plummes are woont to be dryed and preserued as figges, and are called in English Prunes. 1603 G. de Malynes Englands View 141 Such places from whence wee bring very corruptible Commodities of wines, raisins , prunes, currans & such like. 1670 H. Wolley Queen-like Closet ccxxv. 310 Garnish with stewed Prunes, and some plumped Raisins. 1752 G. Berkeley Further Thoughts Tar-water in Wks. (1871) III. 503 Stewed prunes, and other diet of an opening kind. 1832 N. Amer. Rev. Oct. 43 Almonds, currants, prunes & figs. 1870 J. Yeats Nat. Hist. Commerce 182 Dried plums, under the names of prunes and French plums, form an important article of commerce. 1893 E. H. Barker Wanderings by S. Waters 295 Upon the sill were plums laid out on wooden trays to dry in the sun and become what English people call prunes. 1958 N. Levine Canada made Me i. 50 The roast of lean meat with prunes and potatoes. 2001 Frederick (Maryland) Post 2 Feb. a3/1 Plum growers have won permission from the government to start calling prunes ‘dried plums’. c. Any of various varieties of plum grown specifically for drying, with firm flesh, high sugar content, and usually a purple skin. Cf. earlier prune plum n. at Compounds 2. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > fruit or a fruit > stone fruit > [noun] > plum > other types of plum bullacea1375 myxe?1440 prunelloa1450 bullace-fruit1530 wheat-plum1538 wheaten plum1542 pear plum1573 finger plum1577 perdrigon1582 damson plum1584 apple-plum1601 bullace-plum1608 amber plum1629 Christian1629 queen mother1629 cinnamon-plum1664 date1664 Orleans1674 Chickasaw plum1760 blue gage1764 golden drop1772 beach-plum1785 quetsch1839 egg-plum1859 hog plum1863 bladder-plum1869 prune1872 Carlsbad plum1885 apricot plum1893 the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular types of fruit > [noun] > stone fruit > plum > other types of white plumc1330 bullacea1375 myxe?1440 prunelloa1450 bullace-fruit1530 horse plum1530 plum1530 wheat-plum1538 wheaten plum1542 choke-plum1556 pear plum1573 finger plum1577 scad1577 skeg1601 merchant1602 bullace-plum1608 malacadonian1608 prune plum1613 date plum1626 mussel plum1626 amber plum1629 black plum1629 primordian1629 queen mother1629 winter crack1629 myrobalan1630 Christian1651 Monsieur's plum1658 cinnamon-plum1664 date1664 primordial1664 Orleans1674 mirabelle1706 myrobalan plum1708 Mogul1718 mussel1718 Chickasaw plum1760 blue gage1764 magnum bonum1764 golden drop1772 beach-plum1785 sweet plum1796 winesour1836 wild plum1838 quetsch1839 egg-plum1859 Victoria1860 cherry plum1866 bladder-plum1869 prune1872 sour plum1874 Carlsbad plum1885 horse-jug1886 French plum1939 1872 R. G. McClellan Golden State 331 So far the cultivation of prunes has been very limited. 1902 Daily Chron. 18 Sept. 5/1 After three years the prunes grow, the deep-blue ripe fruit being most plentiful at the end of August and beginning of September. 1958 Royal Hort. Soc. Fruit Year Bk. 106 Second in importance to apples are plums, of which two types, the prunes and the gages, are widely planted. 2005 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 26 June 62 He has put 800 acres into the wetlands program and continues to grow prunes, plums and cotton on another 800 acres. 2. A dark purple colour, resembling that of a prune. Also prune purple. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > colour > named colours > purple or purpleness > [noun] > reddish purple prune1873 1873 Young Englishwoman June 286/2 Marine blue, bronze, green, prune, maroon, and violet, are the favourite shades. 1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 2 Sept. 4/1 Prune and a large variety of greys are likewise on the list of fashionable colours. 1890 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 17 263 The flowers of Thamnosma montanum are ‘prune-purple’. 1932 Amer. Jrnl. Bot. 19 400 The background of the throat in young flowers is light phlox purple with the veining on the posterior side prune purple. 1960 Indiana (Pa.) Evening Gaz. 30 Aug. 4/7 Daytime colors are so dark as to be almost funeral. You can take your pick of black, brown, prune purple or steel grey. 1994 Eaton's '94 Best Fall Shopping (Toronto, Ont.) Autumn 26/1 (caption) Spun silk in plumwhip, rose mauve, prune, cabernet, ebony, [etc.]. 3. colloquial (chiefly U.S.). to be full of prunes: to talk nonsense, to make unfounded claims or assertions. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > use language nonsensically [verb (intransitive)] roya1450 to talk (or speak) at rovers1542 nonsense1822 squiddle1824 twaddle1825 fudge1834 buncomize1871 to be full of prunes1887 waffle1900 jive1928 bullshit1942 to talk out of one's arse1973 1887 Los Angeles Times 3 Feb. 2/2 Burns..told the Judge that the court was ‘full of prunes’, and raised sheol generally in court. 1908 Chicago Heights Star 12 Mar. 2/2 Sometimes a fellow who seems to be full of ideas is merely full of prunes. 1953 R. B. Goodwin Good to be Black vii. 75 You're full of prunes. 2005 J. Corrigan in E. J. Weiner What goes Up xx. 297 Anybody who tells you that they know exactly why the market came back is full of prunes. 4. a. prunes-and-prism adj. (also prunes-and-prisms) [a phrase notionally or actually spoken aloud in order to form the lips into an attractive shape (see quots. 1846 and 1856)] designating a prim or affected facial expression or manner of speaking. In extended use: affected mannerisms, superficial accomplishments. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > manner of speaking > [noun] > affected or mincing manner of speech toning1708 prunes-and-prism1888 plumminess1919 the mind > language > speech > manner of speaking > [adjective] > affected or mincing finitive1640 pruney and prismatic (or prismy)1857 prunish1877 plummy1881 prunes-and-prism1888 prunes and prismy1931 the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > [noun] > acquired skill > an accomplishment > minor by-arta1643 prunes-and-prism1888 1846 People's Jrnl. 2 288/2 We will give them [sc. ladies] a recipe for a pretty expression of the mouth—let them place it as if they were going to say prunes. 1856 C. Dickens Little Dorrit (1857) ii. v. 356 Father is rather vulgar, my dear... Papa..gives a pretty form to the lips. Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes and prism, are all very good for the lips: especially prunes and prism. You will find it serviceable in the formation of a demeanour, if you sometimes say to yourself in company or on entering a room, ‘Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes, and prism, prunes and prism.’] 1888 Brit. Weekly 28 Sept. 353/1 He has none of the ‘prunes and prism’ style, and is, perhaps, addicted to strong language. 1892 W. G. Jenkins in Amer. Ann. Deaf Apr. 91 Surface accomplishments, the prunes and prisms of education. c1909 D. H. Lawrence Collier's Friday Night (1934) i. 8 She says this in a very quaint ‘prunes-and-prisms’ manner, with her chin in the air and her hand extended. 1979 Daily Tel. 22 Nov. 14/7 She regales us with an amusing chronicle of Lady Lytton's attempts to find a congenial companion among the straightlaced Indian Civil Service wives, whose ‘prunes and prisms’ expressions she found most off-putting. 1996 Independent (Nexis) 1 Nov. 19 Ms Parry doesn't have to adopt a different parodically prunes-and-prism posh voice as Ms Linehan does when quoting wisps of the classics. b. prunes and prismy adj. rare characterized by or suggestive of a prim or affected manner of speech or behaviour (cf. pruney and prismatic (or prismy) at pruney adj. 1). ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > [adjective] > affectedly proper moy1487 strait-laced1554 mima1586 prim1702 prick-eared1707 prudish1717 priggish1731 primsy1786 trig1793 missish1795 missy1805 pershittie1808 missyish1818 missy-like1831 primmy1857 pruney and prismatic (or prismy)1857 antiseptic1891 blue-nosed1893 prissy1894 Nice Nelly1922 prissified1923 prunes and prismy1931 the mind > language > speech > manner of speaking > [adjective] > affected or mincing finitive1640 pruney and prismatic (or prismy)1857 prunish1877 plummy1881 prunes-and-prism1888 prunes and prismy1931 1931 Time & Tide 4 July 802/2 A tougher-minded generation than ours may find it altogether too prunes-and-prismy. 5. a. colloquial (originally U.S.). A disagreeable, disliked, or unattractive person; a foolish, or inept person; (now also) an old person. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > hatred > dislike > [noun] > one who is disliked warling1546 disfavourite1611 distaster1623 fatherling1624 disagreeable1785 prune1895 the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupid, foolish, or inadequate person > person of weak intellect > confused, muddled person > [noun] mafflardc1450 juffler15.. dromedary1567 madbrain1570 batie buma1586 addle-head1592 blunderkin1596 nit1598 addle-pate1601 hash1655 blunderbuss1692 blunderhead1692 shaffles1703 fog-pate1732 blunderer1741 puzzle-pate1761 slouch1767 étourdi1768 botch1769 puddle1782 bumble1789 scatter-brain1790 addle-brain1799 puzzle-head1815 shaffler1828 chowderhead1833 muddlehead1833 muddler1833 flounderer1836 duffer1842 muddle-pate1844 plug1848 incompetent1866 schlemiel1868 dinlo1873 drumble-dore1881 hodmandod1881 dub1887 prune1895 foozler1896 bollock1916 messer1926 Pilot Officer (also P.O.) Prune1942 spaz1965 spastic1981 1880 Crimson (Harvard Univ.) 23 Jan. 101/1 The collegiate rowdy is known as a scrub... At Columbia a scrub is dubbed a ploot, a prune, or a plum.] 1895 W. C. Gore in Inlander Dec. 112 Prune, one who is disagreeable, and irritable. 1941 S. J. Baker Pop. Dict. Austral. Slang 57 Prune, a simpleton, fool. 1944 ‘N. Shute’ Pastoral ii. 35 He wished..that he knew what it was that worried her, whether it was some prune that she had left at her last station. 1961 G. Smith Business of Loving viii. 201 Snap out of it, you moonstruck old prune. 1974 J. Nichols Milagro Beanfield War i. 55 What kind of charge does a wrinkled little old prune like you..get out of walking around with..your pockets full of bullets? 1978 J. Krantz Scruples xiii. 368 I think she's a bit of a prune. 2000 Independent (Nexis) 22 Jan. 20 I felt a bit of a prune answering questions put by a video image. b. Air Force slang. Originally and chiefly as Pilot Officer (also P.O.) Prune. (The name of) a character in a series of Air Force information cartoons during the Second World War (1939–45); (hence) an incompetent or negligent pilot. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupid, foolish, or inadequate person > person of weak intellect > confused, muddled person > [noun] mafflardc1450 juffler15.. dromedary1567 madbrain1570 batie buma1586 addle-head1592 blunderkin1596 nit1598 addle-pate1601 hash1655 blunderbuss1692 blunderhead1692 shaffles1703 fog-pate1732 blunderer1741 puzzle-pate1761 slouch1767 étourdi1768 botch1769 puddle1782 bumble1789 scatter-brain1790 addle-brain1799 puzzle-head1815 shaffler1828 chowderhead1833 muddlehead1833 muddler1833 flounderer1836 duffer1842 muddle-pate1844 plug1848 incompetent1866 schlemiel1868 dinlo1873 drumble-dore1881 hodmandod1881 dub1887 prune1895 foozler1896 bollock1916 messer1926 Pilot Officer (also P.O.) Prune1942 spaz1965 spastic1981 1942 Tee Emm (Air Ministry) 2 67 All because the Prunes of the Air Force will ignore the existence of A.A. Danger Areas. 1942 T. Rattigan Flare Path i. 30 They call me P.O. Prune—he's a character in The Training Manual—sort of crazy, good-tempered, half-witted sort of bloke..and I—well, I kind of act P.O. Prune for them. 1943 C. H. Ward-Jackson It's a Piece of Cake 49 Prune, Pilot Officer, a fictitious character who behaves as every officer should not, created by Squadron Leader Anthony Armstrong and the artist RAFF (L. A. C. W. Hooper)... Prune was created to teach pupils and other flying personnel how things should not be done. 1988 Times (Nexis) 6 Nov. I'm sorry, too, I said the pilots in it were all Prunes. Pilot Officer Prune, the brilliant but fictitious creation of the RAF training manual, who showed all young pilots how not to do it, may have been a crumb. But he was not a creep. 2005 Jrnl. (Newcastle) (Nexis) 26 Oct. 10 The RAF had its share of PO Prunes but the fellow in trouble would make it clear and the fire engine..would be at hand. Compounds C1. a. General attributive. prune orchard n. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > cultivation of fruit > [noun] > orchard or fruit garden > type of apple-garth1268 oliveyarda1382 olivetc1384 apple orchard?c1400 nut garden1535 oil-garden1535 olive garden1577 lemon-orchard1611 meloniere1658 orange grove1688 melonry1717 nutterya1729 peachery1789 lemon-grove1830 nut grove1840 prune orchard1847 lemon-garden1864 seed orchard1903 1847 N. Amer. Rev. Apr. 494 As he stopped at a prune orchard to buy some fruit, an old man called from a tree. 1921 Chambers's Jrnl. Mar. 173/1 Prune-orchards do not need irrigating. 1999 Bristol Evening Post (Nexis) 13 Mar. 9 Prune orchards are dedicated to growing plums that can be turned into prunes. prune packer n. ΚΠ 1905 Daily News 8 Dec. 6 The French prune-packers, it is said, often import Californian prunes,..repack them,..and sell them to the Americans. 2001 Scotsman (Nexis) 3 Feb. 8 Under the new ruling, prune packers will be required to change the name of the product in two phases. prune rancher n. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > cultivation of fruit > [noun] > one who > specific fruit melonist1667 orangist1693 prune rancher1908 rhubarber1917 1908 Nebraska State Jrnl. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 8 Sept. 6/4 The eighteen-year-old son of a prune rancher, yesterday made a daring and unheralded aeronautic ascent that thrilled hundreds of spectators. 1921 Chambers's Jrnl. Mar. 174/2 With proper pruning and cultivation the prune-rancher has an assured..living. 2003 Times (Shreveport, Lousiana) (Nexis) 30 July 3 b From 1939 to 1944 he was an Alexander Valley prune rancher. prune sauce n. ΚΠ 1773 O. Goldsmith She stoops to Conquer ii. 28 To men that are hungry, pig, with pruin sauce, is very good eating. 1875 Burlington (Iowa) Weekly Hawk-eye 21 Jan. 6/6 I handed him apples, fried cakes, prune sauce, raisin cake and pickled peaches; but nothing would stop his howling. 1918 C. Sandburg Cornhuskers 80 Then they go to the bunk cars and eat mulligan and prune sauce. 2005 Independent (Nexis) 22 Aug. 33 Massimiliano Alajmo of Padua, who serves Gorgonzola ice cream with prune sauce, which sounds repulsive but is reputedly delicious. prune stone n. ΚΠ 1562 W. Bullein Bk. Use Sicke Men f. lxi^v, in Bulwarke of Defence To gargarisme these thynges in his mouth and throte: and to put Prune stones in cold water, and chafe them with the tong up and doune in his mouthe. 1680 W. Charleton Enq. Human Nature iii. 84 Such things as any way promote the flowing forth of the Humor Salivalis or spittle, though they be neither actually cold nor moist in themselves; such as Prune stones, polisht Crystal, pieces of gold. 1733 S. Whatley tr. S. Tyssot de Patot Trav. & Adventures James Massey xiii. 234 I found 4 Stones as big as Prune-Stones in the Bladder of the Gall, which was as yellow as Wax. 1868 Proc. Essex Instit. in Communications Essex Instit. (1871) 6 2 Section of Prune stone. 1929 Stevens Point (Wisconsin) Daily Jrnl. 29 July 4/3 I have had a prune stone in my throat for years. 2005 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 10 Nov. c4 He..managed to supplement near starvation rations by sucking any nutrition from the prune stones and old bones he found. b. Similative. prune-coloured adj. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > colour > named colours > purple or purpleness > [adjective] > reddish purple prune-coloured1792 prune-dark1941 1792 Times 19 Jan. 2/1 A prune coloured Drap de Vigogne coat and waistcoat. 1872 Young Englishwoman Nov. 595/1 A hat of duck-green turquoise is trimmed with prune-coloured velvet. 2004 Guardian (Nexis) 8 May (Travel section) 8 Swish, stylish interiors—all matt prune-coloured walls, grey suede and polished maple. prune-dark adj. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > colour > named colours > purple or purpleness > [adjective] > reddish purple prune-coloured1792 prune-dark1941 1941 L. MacNeice Plant & Phantom 64 With prune-dark eyes, thick lips, jostling each other. 2003 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 25 Mar. 14 The prune-dark, radioactive Hollywood tan acquired the old-fashioned way, in the sun. C2. prune belly n. Medicine the congenital absence of the muscles of the wall of the abdomen, resulting in a wrinkled appearance of the belly; an abdomen exhibiting this; (more fully prune belly syndrome) a syndrome characterized by this and other malformations, esp. of the urogenital tract, seen chiefly in boys. ΚΠ 1967 D. I. Williams & G. V. Burkholder in Jrnl. Urol. 98 244 (title) The prune belly syndrome. 1967 Jrnl. Urol. 98 244/1 The term prune belly is a short and descriptive name sometimes applied to patients with congenital absence of the abdominal muscle. 1990 N.Y. Times Mag. 19 Aug. 16/2 Children with no muscles in their abdominal walls are said to have prune bellies. 2004 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 28 Apr. a3/3 The two youngest children were born with..Prune Belly Syndrome. It's an abnormality characterized by lack of abdominal muscles causing the skin of the belly to wrinkle like a prune. prune brandy n. a liqueur prepared by distilling prunes. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > distilled drink > brandy > [noun] > brandy not from grapes > plum brandy prune brandy1862 slivovitz1885 tsuica1927 1862 Testimony 28 in Civil War Pamphlets (Loyal Publ. Soc.) Two casks, containing prune brandy. 1934 Times Evening Herald (Olean, N.Y.) 27 July 11/1 The state liquor commission ordered an investigation of the feasibility manufacture of prune brandy. 1992 Independent (Nexis) 17 Dec. 10 He and his father have started making a prune brandy which needed Fr100,000-worth of equipment to store and distil. prune-faced adj. that has or makes a wrinkled, scowling, or disapproving face likened to a prune. ΚΠ 1921 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 13 Nov. (Mag.) 6/3 I'm no prune-faced old maid. 1966 G. M. Gressley Bankers & Gentlemen i. 18 Little prune-faced Daniel Drew, with a wicked scowl, terrorizing the Erie Railroad. 1995 Daily News (Halifax, Nova Scotia) 15 Oct. 38 Hester immediately alienates the prune-faced townspeople with her outspokenness. 2004 W. Greatshell Xombies xi. 106 In the locket was a trimmed photo of a prune-faced newborn. prune picker n. (a) a person who picks prunes; (b) U.S. colloquial a Californian. ΘΚΠ the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of America > native or inhabitant of North America > native or inhabitant of U.S.A. > [noun] > specific state > states Marylander1640 Rhode Islander1665 Jerseyman1679 Pennsylvanian1685 Carolinian1705 Georgian1732 Marylandian1750 Jersey blue1758 Californian1762 Louisianian1775 Mississippian1775 Acadian1776 Vermonteer1778 Kentuckian1779 Vermontese1783 Indianian1784 Cohee1786 Kentuck1789 Virginian1797 Michiganian1813 Michigan1814 Tennessean1815 Ohioan1818 Illinoian1819 Ohian1819 Missourian1820 buckeye1823 Vermonter1825 Hoosier1826 red horse1833 sucker1833 wolverine1833 puke1834 corn-cracker1835 Texian1835 Alaskan1836 Texan1837 Michigander1838 Oregonian1838 Rackensack1839 Arkansian1844 badger1844 Bay Stater1845 Lone Star Stater1845 Oregonese1845 tar-boiler1845 weasel1845 web foot1845 Alabaman1846 Iowanc1848 Arkansan1851 Minnesotian1851 Washingtonian1852 Minnesotan1854 Nebraskan1854 Kansian1855 Utahan1855 Floridan1856 fly-up-the-creek1857 Dakotian1861 Coloradan1862 Coloradian1862 Texican1863 Coloradoan1864 tarheel1864 Cajun1868 Kansan1868 Montanian1869 Floridian1870 mudcat1872 New Jerseyan1872 Arkansawyer1874 longhorn1876 Mainer1879 New Jerseyite1885 prune picker1892 Hawaiian1893 Oklahoman1894 Tex1909 blue hen's chicken1921 Tejano1925 Geechee1926 Arkie1927 sooner1930 wyomingite1930 New Mexican1940 Okie1948 1892 Los Angeles Times 28 Sept. 7/5 They..found out that Williams had about as much use for prune pickers as he had for more booze. 1913 Our Navy (U.S.) Jan. 36/1 A cutter race was pulled off by crews from the three cruisers on Thanksgiving Day,..which was won by the Maryland's crew, the ‘Prune Pickers’ [i.e. the crew of the California] capturing third place. 1918 L. E. Ruggles Navy Explained 112 Prune picker, a native of California. So called because of the abundant prune crops. 1952 Chicago Tribune 2 Aug. (TV and Radio section) 1/1 Hope Ryden was a model; Robert Pollak, a stock broker..and Tom Duggan, a prune picker. It takes all kinds of people. 1998 C. B. Allison in J. L. Kincheloe et al. White Reign (2000) xiii. 239 Because my sister was born in California, Mother called her a prune picker. prune plum n. chiefly North American any of several varieties of plum, (in later use) esp. one grown for drying. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular types of fruit > [noun] > stone fruit > plum > other types of white plumc1330 bullacea1375 myxe?1440 prunelloa1450 bullace-fruit1530 horse plum1530 plum1530 wheat-plum1538 wheaten plum1542 choke-plum1556 pear plum1573 finger plum1577 scad1577 skeg1601 merchant1602 bullace-plum1608 malacadonian1608 prune plum1613 date plum1626 mussel plum1626 amber plum1629 black plum1629 primordian1629 queen mother1629 winter crack1629 myrobalan1630 Christian1651 Monsieur's plum1658 cinnamon-plum1664 date1664 primordial1664 Orleans1674 mirabelle1706 myrobalan plum1708 Mogul1718 mussel1718 Chickasaw plum1760 blue gage1764 magnum bonum1764 golden drop1772 beach-plum1785 sweet plum1796 winesour1836 wild plum1838 quetsch1839 egg-plum1859 Victoria1860 cherry plum1866 bladder-plum1869 prune1872 sour plum1874 Carlsbad plum1885 horse-jug1886 French plum1939 1613 G. Markham Eng. Husbandman: 1st Pt. i. ii. 43 Now for the stones of Plumbes, & other stone fruit, you shall vnderstand that they be of two kindes, one simple and of themselues, as the Rye-plumbe, Wheate-plumbe, Damson, Prune-plumbe, Horse-clogge, Cherry, and such like. 1651 R. Child Large Let. in S. Hartlib Legacie 23 The great Damsin, or Pruin-Plum, which groweth well and beareth full in England. 1830 Reg. Pennsylvania 9 Oct. 237/2 Horticultural Society... Mr. Mease sent blue Prune Plums, of good flavour. 1911 U. P. Hendrick et al. Plums of N.Y. 221 A Prune Plum was noted in America by Coxe in 1817, but it is impossible to say whether he meant the German Prune. 2002 Post–Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) 27 Oct. 27/3 Prune plums are high in sugar and are generally free-stone, which makes it easier to remove the pits. prune tree n. (a) a plum tree; (in later use) spec. one of a variety having fruit suitable for drying; (b) Caribbean the tree Prunus occidentalis, having bark used medicinally and kernels used in the production of liqueur, and yielding useful timber. ΚΠ 1580 T. Newton Approoued Med. f. 69^v The leaues & Buds of the Prune tree haue sensible tartnes. 1617 Janua Linguarum 98 The prune tree and cherry tree do wither with frost. 1788 D. Munro Treat. Med. & Pharmaceut. Chymistry III. 224 French, or common Prunes (the fruit of the prune tree)..are commonly used as cooling and gentle laxatives. 1850 J. Macfadyen Flora Jamaica II. 5 Cerasus occidentalis. Prune tree. 1972 C. D. Adams Flowering Plants Jamaica 3/3 P[runus] occidentalis..Prune or Pruan Tree. 1995 Jrnl. Econ. Hist. 55 795 California fruit growers engaged in a..process of experimentation to find the most appropriate plant stocks... Plums and prune trees were brought in from France and Japan. prune whip n. a sweet meringue dish made with prunes and beaten egg white. ΚΠ 1879 Gaz. & Bull. (Williamsport, Pa.) 16 Dec. Prune Whip. Sweeten to taste and stew three-fourths of a pound of prunes; when pretty cold add whites of four eggs beaten stiff. 1942 ‘R. West’ Black Lamb II. 26 Their coffee-brown beauty which fastidious nostrils, secretive lips and eyes like prune-whip made refined and romantic. 2005 Press Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.) (Nexis) 25 Dec. c1 When I'm 85 years old, eating prune whip in a retirement home, I'll remember that game. Derivatives ˈprunery n. Air Force slang (now rare) incompetence or foolhardiness in flying (cf. sense 5b). ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > ability > inability > [noun] > for what is required > personal > and stupidity prunery1942 1942 Observer 4 Oct. 7/2 The Royal Air Force has adopted him [sc. P.O. Prune] now, and an official magazine is devoted to the purpose of trying to cure him of his prunery! 1943 J. L. Hunt & A. G. Pringle Service Slang 53 Prune, a pilot who takes unreasonable risks, and generally loses his neck through his prunery. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online June 2022). pruneadj. Brit. /pruːn/, U.S. /prun/ Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: prune n. Etymology: < prune n. Of a dark purple colour, resembling that of a prune. ΚΠ 1873 Times 1 Feb. 15/2 (advt.) Dinner Dress, prune velvet and white lace &c. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 20 May 1/3 Miss Debby arrayed in a prune silk gown. 1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. xvii. [Ithaca] 658 A sofa upholstered in a prune plush. 1976 Vogue Jan. 74/1 Prune silk crepe de chine with tiny white print. 2002 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 14 Sept. 29 Prune silk and velvet skirt, £60. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022). prunev.¹ Brit. /pruːn/, U.S. /prun/ Forms: α. Middle English proygne, Middle English pruyne (south-west midlands), Middle English–1500s proigne, Middle English–1600s proyne, 1500s proign, 1500s–1600s proine, 1500s–1600s pruine. c1390 Pistel of Swete Susan (Vernon) 81 Þe popeiayes perken and pruynen [v.rr. prunyn, prenen] for proude.c1410 (c1395) G. Chaucer Merchant's Tale (Cambr. Dd.4.24) (1902) l. 2011 Damyan..kembeth he proyneth [v.rr. preyneth, prayneth, prunyht, pruneth] him and pyketh He doth al that his lady lust and lyketh.1508 J. Fisher Treat. Penyt. Psalmes sig. oo.iiij^v There she proyneth & setteth her feders in ordre.1575 G. Turberville Bk. Faulconrie 133 That they may..proine and picke their feathers.1588 T. Kyd tr. T. Tasso Housholders Philos. f. 11 Those [women] that are faire with that filthy spunging, proigning, painting and pollishing themselues.a1637 B. Jonson Under-woods ii. v. 35 in Wks. (1640) III Where I sit and proyne my wings After flight. β. Middle English prowne, Middle English– prune, 1500s–1600s prewne. ▸ a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vi. 2203 Into an Egle he gan transforme And flyh and sette him on a raile..there he pruneth him and piketh.a1475 Bk. Hawking (Harl. 2340) in Studia Neophilol. (1944) 16 11 Put her oute agayn to prowne and spalch herself.1592 W. Warner Æneidos in Albions Eng. 195 A hunting was generally appoynted,..the Standes were prewned; the Toyles pitched.a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Loves Pilgrimage iii. ii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Bbbbbbbb3^v/2 Dare she think..My love so fond..That I must take her prewnings; stoop at that She has tyr'd upon.1737 Songs Costume (Percy Soc.) 220 Adorn thy mind the more within, And prune thy person less.1858 Atlantic Monthly July 171/1 Smooth-plumaged wax-wings are pruning their feathers in the tamarac-trees.1994 People (Nexis) 24 Apr. 46 How can I get my budgie to have a bath? He prunes himself every day, losing lots of small feathers, is very nervous and if I try to pick him up he pecks me very hard. γ. Scottish pre-1700 pronȝe, pre-1700 prounȝe, pre-1700 pruinȝe, pre-1700 prunȝa, pre-1700 prunȝe, pre-1700 prunȝie, pre-1700 prwnȝe. ?1507 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen (Rouen) in Poems (1998) I. 51 I wald me prunȝa plesandly in precius wedis.1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid v. iii. 50 A standand place quhar skarthis with ther beikis, Forgane the son, glaidlie thaim pronȝe and bekis.a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 21 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 95 Birdis..Pransand and prunȝeand be paire and be paire.1568 A. Scott Poems (1896) xxxiv. 95 Swa ladeis will no^t sounȝe With waistit wowbattis rottin, Bot prowdly thay will prounȝe, Quhair geir is to be gottin.1571 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xxxvii. 56 Persaue..þe papingo þat prwnȝeis.a1585 A. Montgomerie Flyting with Polwart 86 As proud as ȝee prunȝie, ȝour pennes sall be plucked. See also preen v.² Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymons: French proign-, proindre, pouroindre. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman proign-, puroign-, stem (e.g. in present plural) of proindre, puroindre, variant of Old French, Middle French pouroindre (of a bird) to tend its feathers, to coat its feathers with grease drawn from the uropygial gland (c1174 in Old French as puroindre ; also attested in Old French as poroindre ) < pour- , pur- , por- (see pur- prefix) + oindre (see oint v.).On the development of the β forms see E. J. Dobson Eng. Pronunc. 1500–1700 (ed. 2, 1968) II. §272. 1. Of a bird. Cf. preen v.² 2. a. intransitive. To tend its feathers with its beak; to preen. Now rare. Also in extended use. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > actions or bird defined by > [verb (intransitive)] > preen prunec1390 preen?c1450 prink1878 c1390 Pistel of Swete Susan (Vernon) 81 (MED) Þe popeiayes perken and pruynen [v.rr. prunyn, prenen] for proude. c1500 (?a1437) Kingis Quair (1939) lxiv The birdis..said..‘We proyne and play without dout and dangere.’ 1508 J. Fisher Treat. Penyt. Psalmes sig. oo.iiij^v There she proyneth & setteth her feders in ordre. a1586 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xxxvii. 256 Persaue..þe papingo þat prwnȝeis. a1657 G. Daniel Trinarchodia: Henry IV lxxiv, in Poems (1878) IV. 19 Harry prunes safe, and brings fresh feathers on T' enlarge his wing. 1708 J. Kersey Dict. Anglo-Britannicum at Prune The Hawk prunes, i.e. picks herself. 1906 Elem. School Teacher 6 475 The oil aids the bird in shedding water, just as a raincoat does for us, and when a bird ‘prunes’ it is simply putting on its waterproofs. b. transitive (reflexive). To preen (itself). Also in extended use. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > actions or bird defined by > [verb (reflexive)] > preen prunea1393 plume1486 a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vi. 2203 (MED) Into an Egle he gan transforme And flyh and sette him on a raile..there he pruneth him and piketh. c1450 (c1400) Cuckoo & Nightingale (Fairf.) (1975) 76 (MED) They pruned hem and made hem ryght gay, And davnseden and lepten on the spray. 1490 W. Caxton tr. Eneydos xvi. 63 As a byrde that pruneth or pycketh her. 1581 W. Goodyear tr. J. de Cartigny Voy. Wandering Knight i. xi. 47 Al kinde of birds possible, as might be perceiued by fethers, which fel from them to ye ground, in pruning themselues. 1686 R. Blome Gentlemans Recreation i. 225 The Action of Birds is Flying, Pruning themselves, Bathing, Swiming, &c. 1704 J. Swift Full Acct. Battel between Bks. in Tale of Tub 245 Friend, said the Bee; (having now pruned himself). 1820 W. Scott Abbot I. vii. 154 The falcon instantly settled on his wrist, and began to prune itself. 1994 People (Nexis) 24 Apr. 46 How can I get my budgie to have a bath? He prunes himself every day, losing lots of small feathers. c. transitive. To tend or preen (its feathers, wings, etc.). Also in extended use. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > actions or bird defined by > [verb (transitive)] > preen fret1423 prune?1533 prink1573 plume1637 wheta1678 preen1692 ?1533–4 R. Saltwood Compar. bytwene iiij. Byrdes sig. Bii She [sc. the thrush]..on the bryar syttyng a hy Proyned her fayre fethers by and by. 1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. iii. sig. P3^v She gins her feathers fowle disfigured Prowdly to prune, and sett on euery side. 1684 C. Cotton Ερωτοπολις 36 Trimming and pruning her Feathers by the Sea-side, that is to say, sitting before a great looking-Glass in her Smock-sleeves, with her Hair dishevell'd, and her Neck and Breasts bare. 1733 A. Pope Impertinent 12 Where Contemplation prunes her ruffled Wings. 1790 G. Riley Beauties of Creation I. 250 They should have water to wash and prune their feathers. 1820 W. Scott Monastery II. x. 292 Meantime he went on with his dalliance with his feathered favourite,..‘Ay, prune thy feathers, and prink thyself gay—much thou wilt make of it now.’ 1870 Punchinello 2 July 222/2 The time is probably not far distant when it will prune its morning wing on the upper pole, and go to roost on the equator. 1924 Times 15 May 9/7 It would be a new interest watching the birds washing and pruning their feathers. 1985 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 31 May 9 Snow-white spoonbills pruned their feathers on the edge of the mudflats, while pelicans slid peacefully through the water. †2. Of a person. Cf. preen v.² 1. a. transitive. To tidy (the hair, clothes, etc.) with great attention to detail; to smarten or spruce up; to primp. Frequently reflexive. Also intransitive. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautify (the person) [verb (transitive)] highta1200 atiffe?c1225 tiff?c1225 wyndre?a1366 kembc1386 picka1393 prunec1395 tifta1400 varnishc1405 finea1425 tifflea1425 quaint1484 embuda1529 trick?1532 trick1545 dill1548 tricka1555 prink1573 smug1588 sponge1588 smudge1589 perk1590 primpc1590 sponge1592 tricksy1598 prime1616 sprug1622 briska1625 to sleek upa1625 trickify1678 prim1688 titivate1705 dandify1823 beflounce1824 befop1866 spry1878 lustrify1886 dude1899 doll1916 tart1938 youthify1945 pansy1946 spiv1947 dolly1958 zhuzh1970 the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautify the person [verb (reflexive)] preenc1395 prunec1395 prank1546 to set oneself out to the life1604 adonize1611 briska1625 tight1775 to make up1778 tighten1786 smarten1796 pretty1868 tart1938 pansy1946 sharpen1952 primp1959 the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautify (the person) [verb (intransitive)] trick?1532 mundify1568 prune1568 to finify it1586 prink1591 brisk1592 tiff1700 fetish1735 beautify1777 adonize1781 fix1783 smart1794 smarten1813 titivate1835 primp1887 doll1916 c1395 G. Chaucer Merchant's Tale 2011 Damyan..kembeth hym; he preyneth [v.rr. prayneth, proyneth, prunyht, pruneth] hym and pyketh. 1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid iv. v. 80 His hair enoynt weill prunȝeit ondir that. 1568 A. Scott Poems (1896) xxxiv. 95 Swa ladeis will no^t sounȝe With waistit wowbattis rottin, Bot prowdly thay will prounȝe, Quhair geir is to be gottin. 1584 W. Warner Pan his Syrinx ix. sig. C2 Se prieth in her glasse like an Ape, to pranke her..like a puppet, but being pruned..to the purpose, yet doth shee but hurte nature with arte, and marre forme with fashion. 1601 B. Jonson Fountaine of Selfe-love Praeludium sig. A4^v Another (..with more Beard, then Brayne) prunes his Mustaccio. View more context for this quotation 1630 P. Massinger Picture sig. K2^v The younger Prunes vp himselfe as if..he were To act a bridegroomes part. 1684 T. Otway Atheist iii. 27 A vain, pert, empty Rogue, That can prune, dance, lisp, or lie very much. 1737 Songs Costume (Percy Soc.) 220 Adorn thy mind the more within, And prune thy person less. 1789 E. Darwin Bot. Garden: Pt. II 13 So Ninon pruned her wither'd charms. 1892 Littell's Living Age 17 Sept. 746/1 Then he pulled his cuffs down, and pruned himself up. b. transitive (reflexive) figurative. To take pride in oneself; to pride oneself on something; to act in a vain or superior manner. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > pride > be or become proud [verb (reflexive)] wlenchc1200 pridea1275 enhancec1380 empride1435 brave1581 prune1598 plume1643 value1648 pique1684 bepride1690 hump1835 tumefy1837 preen1880 to be all over oneself1910 1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 i. i. 97 This is his vncles teaching. This is Worcester, Maleuolent to you in all aspects, Which makes him prune himselfe, and bristle vp The crest of youth against your dignity. View more context for this quotation 1650 J. Trapp Clavis to Bible (Gen. xi. 7) 96 He turned Nebuchadnezzar a grazing among beasts, for pruning and priding himself upon this Babel. 1652 W. Sancroft Mod. Policies sig. D12 The great Turk may justly exult, and prune himselfe in discourses of this nature. 1672 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd i. 43 Divines..who pruned themselves in the peculiar Virulency of their Pens. †3. transitive. To prepare or set in order. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > prepare [verb (transitive)] > prepare or put in order tailc1330 ordain1340 disposec1375 appoint1393 fettlea1400 tifta1400 richc1400 tiffc1400 orderc1515 instruct1534 prune1586 compose1612 to make up1759 fix1783 1586 W. Warner Æneidos in Albions Eng. sig. Oii A hunting was generally appoynted:..the Standes were prewned: the Toyles pitched. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022). prunev.² Brit. /pruːn/, U.S. /prun/ Forms: α. 1500s–1600s proin, 1500s–1600s proine, 1500s–1600s proyne, 1600s proyn. β. 1500s– prune, 1600s prewn, 1600s pruin, 1600s pruine, 1600s pruyn, 1600s pruyne. Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymons: French prougner, prooignier. Etymology: < Middle French prougner to cut branches or twigs from (a vine, tree, shrub, etc.) in order to regulate growth and promote flowering or fruit production (1507; 13th cent. in Old French as prooignier; French regional (Norman) progner ), further etymology uncertain; perhaps < pro , variant of por- (see pur- prefix) + rooignier royn v., although the lack of any evidence for an earlier form porroignier might be seen to argue against this.It has also been suggested that Old French prooignier* represents a development from the same base as provigner provine v., phonetically and semantically influenced by rooignier royn v. With the form history compare prune v.¹ It is uncertain whether the following quot. shows an earlier example of the present word or a figurative use of prune v.¹:?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 154 I xal prune þat paphawk and prevyn hym as a pad. 1. a. transitive. To cut branches or twigs from (a vine, tree, shrub, etc.), in order to regulate growth and promote flowering or fruit production. Occasionally with of and down. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > [verb (transitive)] > trees: prune or lop sneda800 shredc1000 crop?c1225 purgec1384 parea1398 shear1398 shridea1425 dodc1440 polla1449 twist1483 top1509 stow1513 lop1519 bough?1523 head?1523 poll-shred1530 prune1547 prime1565 twig1570 reform1574 disbranch1575 shroud1577 snathe1609 detruncate1623 amputate1638 abnodate1656 duba1661 to strip up1664 reprune1666 pollard1670 shrub1682 log1699 switch1811 limb1835 preen1847 to cut back1871 shrig1873 brash1950 summer prune1980 α. 1547 Certain Serm. or Homilies sig. Jiv As long as a man doth proyne his vynes, doth digge at the rotes, and doth laie freshe yearth to them, he hath a mynde to them, he perceyueth some token of fruitefulnes. 1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique i. f. 26^v He is counted no good gardener, that..doeth diligently proyne his old trees, and hath no regard either to ympe or graffe young settes. 1572 L. Mascall tr. D. Brossard L'Art et Maniere de Semer iii, in Bk. Plant & Graffe Trees 14 When trees shalbe thus proined they shall bring great Cyons from their rootes, which shall be franke and good to replant. 1613 G. Markham Eng. Husbandman: 1st Pt. ii. viii. 70 When you proyne him [sc. a vine] you shall cut away all the olde stocke. 1670 W. Hughes Compl. Vineyard 15 In Germany..they Proin not their Vines the first year. β. 1548 T. Cranmer Catechismus f. ccxxxi Euerye braunche that beareth fruyt he wyll prune that it maye bring forth more fruit.1575 G. Fenton Golden Epist. f. 52^v The tree..by the high waye geues more shaddow to the passenger, then fruite to the owner that prunes it.1612 J. Smith Map of Virginia i. 11 Vines..covered with fruit, though never pruined nor manured.1664 J. Evelyn Kalendarium Hortense 65 in Sylva Prune now your Spanish Jasmine.1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 98. ¶1 Like Trees new lopped and pruned.a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. i. 239 We prune and poll and cut our trees into unnatural shapes.a1832 G. Crabbe Poet. Wks. (1834) III. 22 We prune our hedges, prime our slender trees.1870 J. Yeats Nat. Hist. Commerce 76 In France, the vine is pruned down to the size of a gooseberry bush.1911 F. H. Burnett Secret Garden x. 95 Once or twice a year I'd go an' work at 'em [sc. roses] a bit—prune 'em an' dig about th' roots.1992 News of World 15 Nov. 44/1 Thick, established plants can be pruned by cutting out about one third of all stems. b. intransitive. To cut back or trim a tree or other plant. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > [verb (transitive)] > trees: prune or lop > branches: prune or lop sneda800 shredc1000 crop?c1225 prune1572 shrig1601 head1989 1572 L. Mascall tr. D. Brossard L'Art et Maniere de Semer iii, in Bk. Plant & Graffe Trees 12 When your graffes be well taken on the stocke..ye must proyne, or cut the braunche of commonly in winter. 1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft ix. ii. 169 Times and seasons to sowe, to plant, to proine. 1612 M. Drayton Poly-olbion iii. 47 Heere set, and there they sowe; here proine, and there they plant. 1653 R. Sanderson Serm. Newport 14 What Husbandman would Plow, and Sow, and Plant, and Prune,..if he did not hope..to Inne the fruits? 1719 G. London & H. Wise J. de la Quintinie's Compl. Gard'ner (ed. 7) i. 2 There is daily some new Thing to be done, as to Sow, Plant, Prune, Pallisade. 1774 C. Dibdin Waterman ii. 32 The scythe to mow the grass is made..The knife to prune, to dig the spade. 1842 J. C. Loudon Suburban Horticulturist 705 Gardeners, when pruning for wood, cut farther back than when pruning for fruit. 1884 Harper's Mag. Apr. 735/1 While the majority of our neighbours prune in March, some say fall or winter is the best time. 1938 Amer. Home Jan. 68/2 (advt.) How to Store Roots, Bulbs, etc., for Winter. How to Prune, Disbulb, etc. 1990 Org. Gardening Nov. 69 Except for lanky shoots, which need shortening to keep them from arching to the ground, prune by cutting branches off at ground level. c. transitive. To cut off (branches, boughs, shoots, etc.). Also with off and in figurative context. ΚΠ α. a1625 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Two Noble Kinsmen (1634) iii. vi. 242 Doe men proyne The straight yong Bowes that blush with thousand Blossoms. 1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §432 A Tree..[with] the lower boughes onely maintained, and the higher continually proined off. β. 1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene v. xi. sig. X3 Like fruitlesse braunches, which the hatchets slight Hath pruned from the natiue tree, and cropped quight. View more context for this quotation1599 Bp. J. King Lect. Ionas (new ed.) vi. 89 Pruning away the superfluous boughes of misgovernment & tyrannie.1639 J. Woodall Treat. Gangrena in Surgeons Mate (rev. ed.) 390 After the dead bowes are pruned off.1657 R. Austen Treat. Fruit-trees (ed. 2) 50 Do not prune off the side Branches, lest the body of the plant be too small.c1680 E. Waller On Earl of Roscommon 9 Horace will our superfluous Branches prune.1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry (1721) II. 78 If the Moss is much and long..it may..do well to prune off the greatest part of the Branches.1786 T. Jefferson Observ. on Démeunier's Manuscript in Writings (1984) 585 They find it necessary then to preserve so much of their institution as might continue to support this foreign branch, while they should prune off every other which would give offence to their fellow citizens.1830 J. Baxter Libr. Agric. & Hort. Knowl. 55 [They] should have their bottom side-shoots carefully pruned, cutting them close to their stem.1860 Amer. Agriculturist 19 366/2 If at any time a gap occurs by accident among the limbs of the tree, it may be filled up by pruning the adjoining branches to a bud on the side towards the gap.1978 E. Birney Fall by Fury in Sat. Night July–Aug. 68/1 I was climbing the tall beech to prune dead limbs that overhung the summer home.1994 H. Chappell Oysterback Tales 92 She whips out her secateurs, pruning the withered head off a branch of love-in-a-mist. 2. figurative and in extended use. a. transitive. To cut back, trim, or reduce (anything); to remove something from (a person or thing); esp. to remove (something superfluous or undesirable); to rid of unnecessary or unwanted elements. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > reduce in quantity, amount, or degree [verb (transitive)] > curtail > of something superfluous prune1565 to cut back1943 trim1966 the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > longitudinal extent > shortness > make short(er) [verb (transitive)] > (as if) by cutting crop?c1225 dockc1380 cutc1385 trunk?1440 coll1483 scut1530 to cut, trim, etc. short1545 prune1565 bobtail1577 curtail1580 lop1594 decurtate1599 imp1657 truncate1727 abridge1750 bob1822 α. 1565 J. Jewel Replie Hardinges Answeare vi. 368 It is neither indifferent, nor true dealinge, thus to nippe, and to proine the Doctours saieinges. 1608 G. Markham & L. Machin Dumbe Knight iii. sig. F^v Hee proind him well and brought him vp to learning. 1640 J. Howell Δενδρολογια 50 They might oppresse, spoyle, rob, peele, proyne, and grubbe them up at pleasure. β. 1600 H. Roberts Haigh for Deuonshire xxv. sig. K3^v He..so pruned them, that they had neither money, Iewell or apparell left.1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Eee2 Howe they [sc. laws] are to bee pruned and reformed from time to time. View more context for this quotation1660 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. III. iv. 6 When I considered, how difficult it were so to prune it [sc. a treatise], as to please all persons.1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 135. ¶10 Some..Authors..began to prune their Words of all superfluous Letters.1797 R. Southey Lett. from Spain xiv. 251 [The lamp] has three branches as usual;..a little extinguisher, a pointed instrument to raise the wick, and a small pincers to prune it..are suspended by brazen chains between the branches.1838 W. H. Prescott Hist. Reign Ferdinand & Isabella II. i. xx. 213 Pruning it of all superfluous phrases.1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd II. xix. 224 Her exuberance of spirit was pruned down.1970 Railway Mag. Oct. 546/1 The locomotive-hauled stock of British Railways has been drastically pruned in recent years.2003 BusinessWeek 13 Jan. 102/2 Weak global growth..plus increased production outside of OPEC..are pruning OPEC's market share. b. transitive. To excise or remove (anything superfluous or undesirable). Also with away, off, and out. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > deduction > deduct [verb (transitive)] > something superfluous prune1955 ?1565 A. Hartwell tr. W. Haddon Sight of Portugall Pearle sig. Bi I haue nowe espied your aduersaries, whom you must needes haue pruned of, and cast on the dounghill, as the very poyson of a common wealth. 1625 S. Purchas Pilgrimes I. To Rdr. sig. ¶5 This Method by way of Voyages often repeates the same Countries..(though I haue often pruned repetitions). 1632 E. Reynolds Explic. 110th Psalme 141 Meanes of humility and newnesse of life, by which our faith is exercised and excited, our corruptions pruned, our diseases cured. 1703 J. Drake Historia Anglo-Scotica 192 The superfluous Temporal Estates..disordinately spent by some of the fat and dissolute Clergy, might be pruned away. 1766 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. II. v. 77 Even magna carta itself..only pruned the luxuriances that had grown out of the military tenures. 1836 Southern Literary Messenger Aug. 560/1 It is merely proposed..to prune off..those portions of the study which appear to demand a capacity to speak and write them. 1869 H. F. Tozer Res. Highlands of Turkey II. 117 Establishing a standard and pruning away deformities [in language]. 1902 W. James Varieties Relig. Experience ii. 51 How can religion..be the most important of all human functions..if every several manifestation of it in turn have to be corrected and sobered down and pruned away? 1955 Bull. Atomic Scientists Mar. 94/2 Undoubtedly, these will be pruned out in the next edition. 1992 N.Y. Times 14 Sept. a18/1 The House and Senate versions were heavy-handed and needlessly costly. But then conferees pruned much of the excess. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.a1398adj.1873v.¹c1390v.²1547
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prunen.

Compounds

Derivatives

pruneadj.

prunev.1

prunev.2

prunev.¹

prunev.²