whittle at

whittle at (something)

1. To carve small sections away from something, especially a piece of wood, to in order to shape it or make it smaller. We used to sit on our back porch and whittle at blocks of soap until they were in the shapes of tiny animals. I had to keep whittling at the edge of the door until it fit into the frame properly.

2. To reduce or eliminate the size, scope, or strength of something by incrementally removing small parts. If they keep whittling at our budget like this, our department will have to close down before too long. I know writing your thesis seems daunting right now, but you just have to whittle at it bit by bit over time.

whittle at something

to cut or carve at something. He just sat there, whittling at a chunk of wood. I am not carving anything, I am just whittling at some wood.

词组	whittle at
释义	whittle at whittle at (something) 1. To carve small sections away from something, especially a piece of wood, to in order to shape it or make it smaller. We used to sit on our back porch and whittle at blocks of soap until they were in the shapes of tiny animals. I had to keep whittling at the edge of the door until it fit into the frame properly. 2. To reduce or eliminate the size, scope, or strength of something by incrementally removing small parts. If they keep whittling at our budget like this, our department will have to close down before too long. I know writing your thesis seems daunting right now, but you just have to whittle at it bit by bit over time. See also: whittle Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. whittle at something to cut or carve at something. He just sat there, whittling at a chunk of wood. I am not carving anything, I am just whittling at some wood. See also: whittle McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. See also: whittle at (something) whittle away at (something) whittle away hew out of hew hew (something) out of (something) carve up hew out carve out carve (something) from (something) References in periodicals archive Mark Whittle at the edge of the Arctic Ocean, which marked the end of the 383-mile ultra marathon in Canada's Northern Territories Hallucinating graves and going to the toilet at minus 20C: Living through an Arctic Ultramarathon; Mark Whittle is the first Welshman ever to complete the 380 mile 6633 Arctic Ultramarathon, and one of just six finishers overall Gwen Palmer, who worked alongside Whittle at the Cresswell Ward, said she first suspected that she was drinking on duty towards the end of 2006. Nurse allegedly swore at patients; And she is said to have drank on duty
随便看	hotfoot it out of hotfoot it out of (some place) hot for (something) hot head hothead ho there hot item hotkey hot line hotline hot lunch hot number hot off the press hot off the press(es) hot on hot on (one's) heels hot on (one's) tracks hot on (one's) trail hot on somebody's/something's tracks/trail hot on (something) hot on the heels of hot on the heels of (someone or something) hot on the track of (someone or something) hot on the trail hot on the trail of (someone or something)