whittle

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to cut or shape wood by repeatedly shaving off small pieces with a knife

   He sat by the fire and began to whittle a branch into a spoon.

2. 2
   verb

   to reduce something gradually, especially by removing small amounts or eliminating options

   Successive experiments helped whittle the list of possible explanations down to two.

3. 3
   noun

   archaic: a knife, especially a pocketknife or sheath knife

   The traveler carried a stout whittle at his belt.

From Middle English whittel ("large knife"), an altered form of thwitel, related to Old English thwitan ("to cut, whittle"). The verb first meant shaping wood with a knife; its figurative sense developed from removing material little by little.

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