PARE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Pare

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/pɛr/ Listen

verb

Pare v. t. (past & past part. pared; pres. part. paring)

To cut off, or shave off, the superficial substance or extremities of; as, to pare an apple; to pare a horse's hoof.

To remove; to separate; to cut or shave, as the skin, rind, or outside part, from anything; followed by off or away; as, to pare off the rind of fruit; to pare away redundancies.

Fig.: To diminish the bulk of; to reduce; to lessen. "The king began to pare a little the privilege of clergy."

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Etymology of 'Pare'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Pare" Quotes from Famous Books

... cry. He himself paled slightly. In one of his moods of abstraction he had taken the small knife from his belt and begun to pare his nails,—to do which after a sacrifice was reputed an infallible means of provoking heaven's anger. The friends were grave and silent. The athlete gave a ...

— A Victor of Salamis • William Stearns Davis

... important part of the make-up at this time. Farther on, Bottom counsels his brother clowns: "Get your apparel together, good strings to your beards, new ribbons to your pumps;" and there are especial injunctions to the effect that Thisbe shall be provided with clean linen, that the lion shall pare his nails, and that there shall be abstinence from onions and garlic on the part of the ...

— A Book of the Play - Studies and Illustrations of Histrionic Story, Life, and Character • Dutton Cook

... small sum which was due her at this time without any unfair deduction,—reasons which we need not inquire into too particularly, as we may be very sure that they were right and womanly. So, when she looked over this account of Mr. Silas Peckham's, and saw that he had contrived to pare down her salary to something less than half its stipulated amount, the look which her countenance wore was as near to that of righteous indignation as her gentle features and soft blue eyes would admit of ...

— Elsie Venner • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... be rubbed or roughly handled. I am convinced that, in the majority of cases, wounds are too frequently dressed, and that the washing of wounds prevents the healing of them. "It is a great mistake," said Ambrose Pare, "to dress ulcers too often, and to wipe their surfaces clean, for thereby we not only remove the useless excrement, which is the mud or sanies of ulcers, but also the matter which forms the flesh. Consequently, for these reasons, ulcers should ...

— Advice to a Mother on the Management of her Children • Pye Henry Chavasse

... for those who, whilst; they are in a course of purification, are at so much pains to take off the hair from every part of their own bodies, at the same time to clothe themselves with that of other animals. So when we are told by Hesiod "not to pare our nails whilst we are present at the festivals of the gods,"[FN268] we ought to understand that he intended hereby to inculcate that purity wherewith we ought to come prepared before we enter upon any religious duty, that we have not to make ourselves ...

— Legends Of The Gods - The Egyptian Texts, edited with Translations • E. A. Wallis Budge

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