PARING • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Paring

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/pˈɛrɪŋ/ Listen

noun

Paring n.

The act of cutting off the surface or extremites of anything.

That which is pared off. "Pare off the surface of the earth, and with the parings raise your hills."

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 'Paring'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Paring" Quotes from Famous Books

... p. 50,) with inhuman zeal, censures Constantius for paring the infant apostate. His French translator (p. 265) cautiously observes, that such expressions must not be prises a ...

— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 2 • Edward Gibbon

... these primitive days. People were then, to say the least, as happy as they are now. Food was abundant, and New York was far-famed for its cordial hospitality. Days of recreation were more abundant than now. The principal social festivals were "quilting," "apple paring" and "husking." Birthdays, christenings, and marriage anniversaries were also celebrated with much festivity. Upon most of these occasions there was abundant feasting. Dancing was the favorite amusement, with which the evening was almost invariably terminated. ...

— Peter Stuyvesant, the Last Dutch Governor of New Amsterdam • John S. C. Abbott

... where his critical faculty comes fairly into play. He is, we think, continually paradoxical and reckless in his statements; and his book is more thickly strewn than almost any we know with half-truths, broad axioms which require much paring down to be of any use, but which are made by him to do duty for want of something stronger. But, from so keen and so deeply interested a writer, it is our own fault if we do not learn a good deal. And we ...

— Occasional Papers - Selected from The Guardian, The Times, and The Saturday Review, - 1846-1890 • R.W. Church

... years old, and Cadine six, when old Madame Chantemesse began to reproach them for their idleness. She told them that she would interest them in her business, and pay them a sou a day to assist her in paring her vegetables. During the first few days the children displayed eager zeal; they squatted down on either side of the big flat basket with little knives in their hands, and worked away energetically. Mother Chantemesse made a specialty of pared vegetables; ...

— The Fat and the Thin • Emile Zola

... shirt of night disguised * In terror and in caution a-hurrying amain! Then I rose and spread my cheek like a carpet on his path * In homage, and with skirts wiped his trail from off the plain. But threatening disgrace rose the Crescent in the sky * Like the paring of a nail yet the light would never wane: Then happened whatso happened: I disdain to kiss and tell * So deem of us thy best and with queries ...

— The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 10 • Richard F. Burton

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