narrow down

Related to narrow down: look over, come through, awaited, overhyped, scrutinised, coming along

narrow down

To pare the number of people or things on a list down to a more manageable or select number. A noun or pronoun can be used between "narrow" and "down." We've narrowed down our list of candidates to just three, but it's going to be nigh impossible to choose from them. Let's narrow it down to just our very top choices, otherwise we'll never pick a place to go.
See also: down, narrow
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

narrow something down (to people or things)

to reduce a list of possibilities from many to a selected few. We can narrow the choice down to green or red. We narrowed down the choice to you or Paul.
See also: down, narrow
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • ask down
  • chow down
  • chow something down
  • call down
  • clunk
  • clunk down
  • batter
  • batter down
  • brush down
  • bear down
References in periodicals archive
Engineers can start with the highest layer (for example in a FC fabric, this layer may be FCP or SSCI-over-layer) to narrow down to a problem FCP exchange.
Engineering challenges to storage system protocols: diagnosing problems involving multiple protocols presents complex engineering challenges
Maintaining that goal helped us narrow down the field and finally select Brad's firm.
The making of a new facility
Moreover, 'a 34% reduction in the trade deficit on services to $1.09 billion from $1.65 billion also helped narrow down the deficit in the four months,' Abbas added.
Current account deficit widens 34%, amounts to $1.21b
Astronomy Ireland are now working hard to narrow down where the giant meteor landed.
ROCK OF WAGES; Meteor that hit Ireland worth EUR100m
The flies are attracted by certain smells from cows and crocodiles, so his team is trying to narrow down which smells will be most effective.
Bait to trap the tsetse fly
Online voting will be used to narrow down the entries to a shortlist of six.
Firm wants your bonny baby's face
"It allows buyers to narrow down searches, and gives sellers the opportunity to showcase their homes, both inside and out."
Houlihan/Lawrence revamps website. (Technology-Update)
Based on majority answers, no matter which questions you ask (or how many), you can't narrow down the choices to a single pair.
Guessing secrets: applying mathematics to the efficient delivery of Internet content
McManaman is therefore clear to feature in the game against Brazil at Wembley, where England will narrow down their Euro 2000 options.
Football: Macca in Euro boost
They also narrow down an individual to one in 1000 billion.
DNA test nose exactly what you look like
IBM's Almaden Research Centre has, in conjunction with researchers from Cornell University, developed a new way to narrow down the responses to a web search inquiry based on hotlinks rather than just words in a text.
NEW WEB OF WEB SEARCHING DEVELOPED
But to narrow down the list, here are five areas to explore.
Getting started: the five best businesses for young entrepreneurs
'We (Pakistan) need to cut imports by $6-7 billion to narrow down the trade deficit in real terms.'
Pakistan's trade deficit stands at $3.19b
"Police could have a database which would narrow down the pool of suspects and allow them to prioritise.
Surname DNA link
Union officials were accused of trying to narrow down the national curriculum after the president of the NASUWT suggested GCSE maths be made optional and that only a numeracy exam should be compulsory.
`It just doesn't add up'