Whittle

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Whittle \Whit"tle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Whittled}; p. pr. & vb.
     n. {Whittling}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. 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]
  
     2. 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]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

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

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  51 Moby Thesaurus words for "whittle":
     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