whittle away at — 1. To pare or whittle 2. To reduce, curtail or circumscribe little by little • • • Main Entry: ↑whittle … Useful english dictionary
whittle away — phrasal verb [intransitive/transitive] Word forms whittle away : present tense I/you/we/they whittle away he/she/it whittles away present participle whittling away past tense whittled away past participle whittled away to gradually reduce the… … English dictionary
whittle away — v. (D; intr.) to whittle away at (to whittle away at smb. s alibi) * * * (D; intr.) to whittle away at (to whittle away at smb. s alibi) … Combinatory dictionary
whittle away — PHRASAL VERB To whittle away something or whittle away at it means to gradually make it smaller, weaker, or less effective. [V P n (not pron)] I believe that the Government s general aim is to whittle away the Welfare State... [V P at n] Their… … English dictionary
whittle away — reduce, cut down … English contemporary dictionary
whittle away (to) — Slowly reduce/shrink. Like a craftsman carving a piece of wood, managers may choose to slowly rearrange or reduce a department or division … American business jargon
whittle something down — whittle (something) down to gradually reduce or destroy something. By halftime our team s lead had been whittled down to only two points. College is so expensive, after two years, my college fund has been whittled away to almost nothing. Usage… … New idioms dictionary
whittle down — whittle (something) down to gradually reduce or destroy something. By halftime our team s lead had been whittled down to only two points. College is so expensive, after two years, my college fund has been whittled away to almost nothing. Usage… … New idioms dictionary
whittle — ► VERB 1) carve (wood) by repeatedly cutting small slices from it. 2) make by whittling. 3) (whittle away/down) reduce by degrees. ORIGIN from dialect whittle «knife», from an Old English word meaning «cut, cut off» … English terms dictionary
whittle — whit|tle [ˈwıtl] v [Date: 1500 1600; Origin: whittle large knife (15 19 centuries), from thwittle (14 19 centuries), from thwite to whittle (11 19 centuries), from Old English thwitan] 1.) also whittle down [T] to gradually make something smaller … Dictionary of contemporary English
