whittle away 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 away at blocks of soap until they were in the shapes of tiny animals. I had to keep whittling away 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 away at our budget like this, our department will have to close down before too long. The president's administration continued to whittle away at the powers of congress and the courts until he had complete control of the country. Having to write a thesis this length was daunting, but I've just whittled away at it every day for the last three months.

词组	whittle away at (something)
释义	whittle away at (something) whittle away 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 away at blocks of soap until they were in the shapes of tiny animals. I had to keep whittling away 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 away at our budget like this, our department will have to close down before too long. The president's administration continued to whittle away at the powers of congress and the courts until he had complete control of the country. Having to write a thesis this length was daunting, but I've just whittled away at it every day for the last three months. See also: away, whittle Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. See also: whittle at whittle at (something) whittle away hew out of hew hew (something) out of (something) carve up hew out carve out carve (something) from (something)
随便看	throw into confusion throw into disarray throw into sharp relief throw into the bargain throw in with throw in with (one) throw in your hand throw in your lot with throw in your lot with somebody throw in your lot with someone throw light on Throw me a bone! throw money at throw money at (someone or something) throw money at something throw money at something/someone throw money away throw mud throw mud at (one) throw mud enough, and some will stick thrown throw name around throw off throw off balance throw off the track