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whittle down

 - 3 dictionary results

whit⋅tle

  [hwit-l, wit-l] verb, -tled, -tling, noun
Use whittle down in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to cut, trim, or shape (a stick, piece of wood, etc.) by carving off bits with a knife.
2. to form by whittling: to whittle a figure.
3. to cut off (a bit).
4. to reduce the amount of, as if by whittling; pare down; take away by degrees (usually fol. by down, away, etc.): to whittle down the company's overhead; to whittle away one's inheritance.
–verb (used without object)
5. to whittle wood or the like with a knife, as in shaping something or as a mere aimless diversion: to spend an afternoon whittling.
6. to tire oneself or another by worrying or fussing.
–noun
7. British Dialect. a knife, esp. a large one, as a carving knife or a butcher knife.
Origin:
1375–1425; late ME (n.), dial. var. of thwitel knife, OE thwīt(an) to cut + -el -le

Related forms:
whittler, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

whittle 
1552, "to cut thin shavings from (something) with a knife," from M.E. whittel "a knife" (1404), variant of thwittle (1390), from O.E. þwitan "to cut," from P.Gmc. *thwitanan (cf. O.N. þveita "to hew"). Fig. sense is attested from 1746.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Science Dictionary
Whittle   (wĭt'l)  Pronunciation Key 
British aeronautical engineer and inventor who developed the first aircraft engine powered by jet propulsion in 1937.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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