Cutting (Pruning Terminology):

Includes both thinning and heading {Harris, 1994}. Thinning is the elimination of shoots or branches from their point of origin, or of the main axis near a lateral that assumes the terminal role. Heading consists in reducing the length of young shoots back to a bud, or the shortening of a branch back to a lateral structure too small to play the terminal role. Pinching, tipping, heading, and stubbing indicate shortening of shoots in increasing order of severity, that is, with increasing amounts of wood being removed. The vegetative response consequent to thinning is distributed quite evenly over the remaining shoots, whereas heading causes a strong response next to the wound.