The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Prune \Prune\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pruned; p. pr. & vb. n.
Pruning.] [OE. proine, probably fr. F. provigner to lay
down vine stocks for propagation; hence, probably, the
meaning, to cut away superfluous shoots. See Provine.]
1. To lop or cut off the superfluous parts, branches, or
shoots of; to clear of useless material; to shape or
smooth by trimming; to trim: as, to prune trees; to prune
an essay. --Thackeray.
[1913 Webster]
Taking into consideration how they [laws] are to be
pruned and reformed. --Bacon.
[1913 Webster]
Our delightful task
To prune these growing plants, and tend these
flowers. --Milton.
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2. To cut off or cut out, as useless parts.
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Horace will our superfluous branches prune.
--Waller.
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3. To preen; to prepare; to dress. --Spenser.
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His royal bird
Prunes the immortal wing and cloys his beak. --Shak.
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Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
58 Moby Thesaurus words for "pruned":
Spartan, abbreviated, abridged, abstracted, aposiopestic, bobbed,
brief, brusque, capsule, capsulized, clipped, close, compact,
compendious, compressed, concise, condensed, contracted, crisp,
cropped, curt, curtailed, cut, cut short, digested, docked, elided,
elliptic, epigrammatic, gnomic, laconic, mowed, mown, nipped,
pithy, pointed, pollard, polled, reaped, reserved, sententious,
shaved, sheared, short, short and sweet, short-cut, shortened,
snub, snubbed, succinct, summary, synopsized, taciturn, terse,
tight, to the point, trimmed, truncated