prune

Everyday

1. A prune is a dried plum, dark and wrinkly, eaten as a snack or cooked. tree →
2. (verb) To prune a tree or bush is to cut off some branches so it grows better. tree →
3. (verb) To prune something is to cut out parts you do not need, such as words in a story. tree →

In the lessons

In gardening and science lessons pruning helps plants grow healthy; in everyday life prunes are a food said to help digestion; in English lessons pupils prune long sentences. Phrases: prune the roses, prune juice, fingers like prunes.

Examples

• Grandpa likes prunes with his breakfast. tree →
• We pruned the apple tree in winter. tree →
• Prunes are dried plums. tree →
• After the bath my fingers looked like prunes. tree →
• Prune your story so it is not too long. tree →
• Dad pruned the hedge with shears. tree →

Note

Countable for the fruit (prunes). Verb past form: pruned. In some languages «prune» means a fresh plum (French «prune»); in English it is a dried one — a false friend.

In Jewish tradition

In the Torah it means to trim vines so they grow better. It is allowed in six years but forbidden in the seventh. The prophets mention "pruning-hooks," the tools used, and an unpruned vineyard is a picture of a land left waste.

Interpretation. Tradition says the land rests in the seventh year, called the Sabbatical year or shmitta. In Isaiah and Joel pruning-hooks stand for peace, and beating them into spears means war; the tradition looks forward to the reverse in the days of the Messiah.

Examples

• Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the produce thereof. (Torah LEV.25.3, JPS 1917) tree →
• But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto the LORD; thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. (Torah LEV.25.4, JPS 1917) tree →
• Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears; let the weak say: 'I am strong.' (Prophets JOL.4.10, JPS 1917) tree →
• And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned nor hoed, but there shall come up briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. (Prophets ISA.5.6, JPS 1917) tree →
• For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the bud becometh a ripening grape, He will cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks, and the shoots will He take away and lop off. (Prophets ISA.18.5, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Countable for the fruit (prunes). Verb past form: pruned. In some languages «prune» means a fresh plum (French «prune»); in English it is a dried one — a false friend.