[pare] vt pared ; par.ing [ME, fr. MF parer to prepare, trim, fr. L parare to prepare, acquire; akin to L parere to give birth to, produce, Lith pereti to hatch] (14c) 1: to trim off an outside, excess, or irregular part of "~ apples" "paring his nails"
2: to diminish or reduce by or as if by paring "~ expenses" "the novel was pared down to 200 pages" -- par.er n