pare

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
pare/peə(r)/

▶verb

• 1 trim by cutting away the outer edges of.

• 2 (often pare something away/down) reduce or diminish in a number of small successive stages.

– derivatives
parer noun.

– origin ME: from OFr. parer ‘adorn, prepare’, also ‘peel, trim’, from L. parare ‘prepare’.