WHITTLE

[verb] - to make (something) out of a piece of wood by cutting off small thin piecesAn old sailor sat on the dockside, whittling a toy boat.To whittle away (at) something or to whittle something away is to make it gradually smaller or less important or effective.Every year, management whittles away at the number of jobs in the company.In the second half of the race, the Italian driver began to whittle away Mansell's five-second lead. A series of new laws has gradually whittled away basic human rights in the country.To whittle down something or whittle something down is to make it gradually smaller.By half time Argentina had whittled the gap down to one goal.