whittle
A knife; especially, a clasp-knife, pocket knife, or sheath knifeA knife; especially, a clasp-knife, pocket knife, or sheath knife.
» Tom took out his knife and started whittling a piece of wood.
Meaning
5 sensesA knife; especially, a clasp-knife, pocket knife, or sheath knife.
большо́й ножbolʹšój nož
(archaic)A covering for a bed; sheet.
(archaic)A coarse greyish double blanket worn over the shoulders, like a cloak or shawl.
(archaic)A kind of fine woollen shawl, originally and especially a white one.
(archaic, dialectal)A baby's flannel; a baby's woollen napkin; a flannel petticoat.
- English aeronautical engineer who invented the jet aircraft engine (1907-1996)
Examples
14 sentencesTom took out his knife and started whittling a piece of wood.
What are you whittling?
ruЧто ты строгаешь?
I still love to whittle.
Ziri whittled the branch into shape.
Lack of sleep whittled away her energy.
ruНедостаток сна изничтожил её энергию.
Translations
2 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
From Middle English whittel (“large knife”), an alteration of thwitel, itself from thwitenFrom 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”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source