whittle

Plural: whittles

Noun

English aeronautical engineer who invented the jet aircraft engine (1907-1996)
A knife; especially, a clasp-knife, pocket knife, or sheath knife.
A coarse greyish double blanket worn by countrywomen, in the west of England, over the shoulders, like a cloak or shawl.
A whittle shawl; a kind of fine woollen shawl, originally and especially a white one.

Verb

Verb Forms: whittled, whittling, whittles

To cut or shave small pieces from wood; to reduce gradually.
cut small bits or pare shavings from
- "whittle a piece of wood"
To cut or shape wood with a knife.
To reduce or gradually eliminate something (such as a debt).
To make eager or excited; to excite with liquor; to inebriate.

Examples

She tried to whittle down her opponent’s score, one carefully placed word at a time.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English whittel (“large knife”), an alteration of thwitel, itself from thwiten (“to whittle”), from Old English þwītan (“to strike down, whittle”), from Proto-Germanic *þwītaną, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *twey- (“to shake, hurl, toss”). Compare Old Norse þveita (“to hurl”), Ancient Greek σείω (seíō, “I shake”). Related to thwite and thwaite.

Synonyms

Frank Whittle, pare, Sir Frank Whittle

Scrabble Score: 13

whittle: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
whittle: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
whittle: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 13

whittle: valid Words With Friends Word