What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Prune vs Rune - What's the difference?

prune | rune |

In obsolete terms the difference between prune and rune

is that prune is to preen; to prepare; to dress while rune is a roun.

As a verb prune

is to remove excess material from a tree or shrub; to trim, especially to make more healthy or productive.

prune

English

(wikipedia prune)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) prune, from (etyl) , a loanword from a language of Asia Minor.

Noun

(en noun)
  • (obsolete) A plum.
  • The dried, wrinkled fruit of certain species of plum.
  • (slang) An old woman, especially a wrinkly one.
    • Synonyms
    * see
    Derived terms
    * German prune * prune tree * pruney * South African prune

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) 'to round-off the front'.

    Verb

    (prun)
  • To remove excess material from a tree or shrub; to trim, especially to make more healthy or productive.
    • A good grape grower will prune his vines once a year.
  • * Milton
    • Our delightful task / To prune these growing plants, and tend these flowers.
  • (figuratively) To cut down or shorten (by the removal of unnecessary material).
    • to prune a budget, or an essay
  • * Francis Bacon
    • taking into consideration how they [laws] are to be pruned and reformed
  • (obsolete) To preen; to prepare; to dress.
  • * Shakespeare
    • His royal bird / Prunes the immortal wing and cloys his beak.
    (Dryden)
    (Spenser)
    Derived terms
    * (l) * (l)

    Anagrams

    * ----

    rune

    English

    (runes)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A letter, or character, belonging to the written language of various ancient Germanic peoples, especially the Scandinavians and the Anglo-Saxons.
  • A Finnish poem, or a division of one, especially a division of the Kalevala.
  • Any verse or song, especially one with mystical or mysterious overtones; an incantation.
  • * 1891 , Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country , Nebraska 2005, page 15:
    • the fiddle sang and sang as ceaselessly as the chanting cicada without, and the frogs intoning their sylvan runes by the waterside.
  • (obsolete) A roun.

    • Derived terms

    * runecraft * runelore * runester * runology, runologist

    Anagrams

    * ----