PARE, L. paro Gr. lame to mutilate Heb. to create to cut off. The primary sense is to thrust or drive, hence to drive off, to separate, to stop by setting or repelling, as in parry, or to drive off or out, as in separating or producing.
1. To cut off, as the superficial substance or extremities of a thing to shave off with a sharp instrument as, to pare an apple or an orange to pare the nails to pare a horse's hoof to pare land in agriculture.
2. To diminish by little and little.
The king began to pare a little the privilege of clergy.
When pare is followed by the thing diminished, the noun is in the objective case as, to pare the nails. When the thing separated is the object, pare is followed by off or away as, to pare off the rind of fruit to pare away redundances.