whittle
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Middle English whittel (“large knife”), an alteration of thwitel, itself from thwiten (“to whittle”), from Old English thwitan. Compare Old Norse þveita (“to hurl”)
Pronunciation [edit]
Noun [edit]
whittle (plural whittles)
- A knife; especially, a pocket knife, sheath knife, or clasp knife.
- Dryden
- A butcher's whittle.
- Macaulay
- Rude whittles.
- Betterton
- He wore a Sheffield whittle in his hose.
- Dryden
Translations [edit]
large knife
Verb [edit]
whittle (third-person singular simple present whittles, present participle whittling, simple past and past participle whittled)
- (transitive or intransitive) To cut or shape wood with a knife.
- (transitive) To reduce or gradually eliminate something (such as a debt).
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
cut or shape wood with a knife
reduce or gradually eliminate something
|
References [edit]
- Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967
