Let's see....
prune
verb
1 I pruned the roses cut back, trim, thin, pinch back, clip, shear, top, dock.
2 prune lateral shoots of wisteria cut off, lop (off), chop off, clip, snip (off), nip off, dock.
3 staff numbers have been pruned reduce, cut (back/down), pare (down), slim down, make reductions in, make cutbacks in, trim, decrease, diminish, downsize, ax, shrink; informal slash. antonym increase.
Fits the description rather well......
