prune

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
prune1

▶noun

• 1 a plum preserved by drying and having a black, wrinkled appearance.

• 2 informal a disagreeable person.

– origin ME: from OFr., via L. from Gk prou(m)non ‘plum’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
prune2

▶verb

• 1 trim (a tree, shrub, or bush) by cutting away dead or overgrown branches or stems.

• 2 remove superfluous or unwanted parts from.

▶noun an instance of pruning.

– derivatives
pruner noun.

– origin C15 (in the sense ‘abbreviate’): from OFr. pro(o)ignier, possibly based on L. rotundus ‘round’.