The Collaborative Dictionary

Whittle \Whit"tle\, n. [AS. hw[imac]tel, from hwit white; akin to Icel. hv[imac]till a white bed cover. See White.] (a) A grayish, coarse double blanket worn by countrywomen, in the west of England, over the shoulders, like a cloak or shawl. --C. Kingsley. (b) Same as Whittle shawl, below. [1913 Webster] Whittle shawl, a kind of fine woolen shawl, originally and especially a white one. [1913 Webster]

Whittle \Whit"tle\, n. [OE. thwitel, fr. AS. pw[imac]tan to cut. Cf. Thwittle, Thwaite a piece of ground.] A knife; esp., a pocket, sheath, or clasp knife. "A butcher's whittle." --Dryden. "Rude whittles." -- Macaulay. [1913 Webster] He wore a Sheffield whittle in his hose. --Betterton. [1913 Webster]

Whittle \Whit"tle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Whittled; p. pr. & vb. n. Whittling.] [1913 Webster]

To pare or cut off the surface of with a small knife; to cut or shape, as a piece of wood held in the hand, with a clasp knife or pocketknife. [1913 Webster]

To edge; to sharpen; to render eager or excited; esp., to excite with liquor; to inebriate. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] "In vino veritas." When men are well whittled, their tongues run at random. --Withals. [1913 Webster]

Whittle \Whit"tle\, v. i. To cut or shape a piece of wood with am small knife; to cut up a piece of wood with a knife. [1913 Webster] Dexterity with a pocketknife is a part of a Nantucket education; but I am inclined to think the propensity is national. Americans must and will whittle. --Willis. [1913 Webster]

Word Net

whittle v : cut small bits or pare shavings from; "whittle a piece of wood" [syn: pare]

Moby Thesaurus

amputate, ax, bisect, blade, butcher, carve, chop, cleave, cold steel, cut, cut away, cut in two, cut off, cutlery, cutter, dagger, dichotomize, dissever, edge tools, excise, fissure, gash, hack, halve, hew, incise, jigsaw, knife, lance, naked steel, pare, pigsticker, point, prune, puncturer, rend, rive, saw, scissor, sever, sharpener, slash, slice, slit, snip, split, steel, sunder, sword, tear, toad sticker

English

Etymology

From whittel, an alteration of thwitel, itself from thwiten, from thwitan

Pronunciation

/ˈwʰɪtəl/
Rhymes with: -ɪtəl

Noun

a large knife

Verb

In the context of "transitive|or|intransitive": To cut or shape wood with a knife.
To reduce or gradually eliminate something (such as a debt).

Derived terms

Translations

cut or shape wood with a knife

Dutch: kerven, snijden, aanspitsen

reduce or gradually eliminate something

Dutch: afknagen, verminderen

References

Whittle may refer to:

Whittle (UK game show), a game show on Channel 5 presented by Tim Vine
Whittling, the carving of wood with a knife

One of several people with the surname Whittle, including:

Alasdair Whittle, professor of Archaeology
Bill Whittle, American blogger
Chris Whittle, American entrepreneur who founded Channel One News and Edison Schools, Inc.
Frank Whittle, Royal Air Force officer who invented the jet engine
John Woods Whittle, Australian soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross
Lesley Whittle, murder victim
Peter Whittle, a New Zealand mathematician and statistician
Stephen Whittle, British transsexual activist

AskDefine | Define whittle