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.

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”).

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