prunelle

From French, diminutive of prune.

prunelle (plural prunelles)

1. a kind of small and very acid French plum, especially when stoned and dried, from Prunus spinosa (blackthorn, sloe).

• “prunelle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

From prune + -elle.

• IPA^(key): /pʁy.nɛl/

prunelle f (plural prunelles)

1. sloe (small, bitter, wild fruit of the blackthorn)
2. sloe gin
3. (anatomy) pupil; iris and pupil together; eye
   • 1897, Anatole France, L'Orme du mail,

     M. Lacarelle relevait ses longues moustaches gauloises et roulait ses prunelles de faïence bleue.

     Mr. Lacarelle raised his long Gallic moustache and rolled his blue earthenware eyes.

   Synonym: (more common) pupille

4. (archaic) a type of cloth

• tenir à quelque chose comme à la prunelle de ses yeux

• prunellier

• “prunelle”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.