pare

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to decrease gradually or bit by bit

   I pared the intensity of the shocks over the course of an hour.

2. 2
   verb

   to remove the edges from and cut down to the desired size

   They need to pare their fingernails.

3. 3
   verb

   to strip the skin off

   Have the apples been pared?

4. 4
   verb

   To remove the outer covering or skin of something with a cutting device, typically a knife.

   Victor pared some apples in preparation to make a tart.

Simplified etymology

Pare entered English in the Middle English period and ultimately goes back to Latin parare, “make ready.”

From Middle English paren, from Old French parer (“to arrange, prepare, trim”), from Latin parō (“to prepare, arrange; to provide, furnish; to resolve, purpose”) (related to pariō (“to bear, to give birth to; to spawn, produce, beget; to procure, acquire”)), from a Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to bring forward, bring forth”).

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
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