Lopped

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To have cut off a branch or limb from a tree or plant ; to have reduced something by cutting or trimming parts away
2. Having removed a large part of a branch or limb by cutting ; having something diminished or shortened by cutting down
3. The action of severing a limb or branch from a living or dead plant ; the state of being decreased or lessened by cutting

Etymology: "Lopped" is the past tense and past participle of "lop," so its story is really the story of the verb. "Lop" is a Middle English word, and its ancestry is uncertain: it may come from an older English source, or it may be related to "lap" or "lobe," which share the sense of something hanging loose or dangling. Dictionaries generally treat the origin as unclear rather than settled. The original sense was to cut off the drooping or overhanging parts of a tree, usually by pruning, and this is still the core meaning. The sense of cutting a branch from a living or dead plant follows directly from that. The idea of something being reduced by cutting came later and is a natural extension: once a branch has been cut away, the whole is smaller, and "lopped" can describe that diminishment.

Synonyms: trimmed, cut, cropped

Antonyms: grown, extended