🐄 A hornless animal 🌳 A cut-back tree ✂️ To cut branches

to pollard

9.8

To cut the top branches of a tree to make dense new growth

verb
/ˈpɒl.ərd/

: podar

The gardener suggested we pollard the old oak to help it produce a fuller canopy.

Examples

During the winter, I will pollard the trees to encourage new growth in the spring.
In the suburbs of Central City, my property, through diligent and loving application, had ultimately been turned into a miniature Versailles, replete with espaliers, pollarded aisles, and substantial fountains.

Fiction book (2002)
'Then the palm trees changed into those pollarded willows by the canal.

Brief Encounter (1945)
To maintain its shape, we decided to pollard the willow tree every few years.

Synonyms

to poll

vsto pollard

Specialized

1 8.3

To cut off the top of a tree or branch

focuses on a horticultural method to promote dense regrowth on tree crowns

Antonyms

to make grow

2 2.9

To help something become bigger or better over time

How Pruned

to coppice

1 8.4

to pollard

9.8

to prune

6 3.4

to trim

95 2.6

Surface Forms

pollard infinitive

pollarded past

pollarded past participle

pollarding present participle

pollards third person singular

Etymology

The verb pollard comes from the old word poll meaning 'head' or 'top', and it simply means to cut off the top of a tree. So, to pollard a tree is to cut its upper branches to encourage a thick, bushy head of foliage.