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Whittle
Definitions
- 1 A surname. countable, uncountable
- 2 An unincorporated community in Russell County, Kentucky, United States. countable, uncountable
- 1 A knife; especially, a clasp-knife, pocket knife, or sheath knife.
"Novv if any man can be ſo unkind to his ovvn Body, for I meddle not vvith your Souls, as to ſtand ſtill like a good Chriſtian, and offer his VVeeſon to a Butcher's VVhittle, I ſay no more but that he may be ſav'd, and that's the beſt can come on him."
- 2 A coarse greyish double blanket worn by countrywomen, in the west of England, over the shoulders, like a cloak or shawl. archaic
"Her figure is tall , graceful , and slight ; the severity of its outlines suiting well with the severity of her dress , with the brown stuff gown , and plain gray whittle"
- 3 A whittle shawl; a kind of fine woollen shawl, originally and especially a white one. archaic
- 1 To cut or shape wood with a knife. intransitive, transitive
"He was sitting on a bench before the fire, with his feet on the stove hearth, and in one hand was holding close up to his face that little negro idol of his; peering hard into its face, and with a jack-knife gently whittling away at its nose, meanwhile humming to himself in his heathenish way."
- 2 cut small bits or pare shavings from wordnet
- 3 To reduce or gradually eliminate something (such as a debt). transitive
- 4 To make eager or excited; to excite with liquor; to inebriate. figuratively, transitive
"When men are well whitled, their toungs run at randome"
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.
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.
From Middle English whytel, from Old English hwītel (“cloak, blanket”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwītil, from Proto-Germanic *hwītilaz, equivalent to white + -le; akin to Icelandic hvítill (“white bedcover, sheet, linen”).
See also for "whittle"
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Unscramble this word: whittle