(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
1.
If you ~ something or ~ at it, you cut it with strong, rough strokes using a sharp tool such as an axe or knife.
An armed gang barged onto the train and began ~ing and shooting anyone in sight...
Some were ~ed to death with machetes...
Matthew desperately ~ed through the leather.
VERB: V n, be V-ed prep/adv, V prep
2.
If you ~ your way through an area such as a jungle or ~ a path through it, you move forward, cutting back the trees or plants that are in your way.
We undertook the task of ~ing our way through the jungle.
VERB: V n prep/adv
3.
If you ~ at or ~ something which is too large, too long, or too expensive, you reduce its size, length, or cost by cutting out or getting rid of large parts of it.
He ~ed away at the story, eliminating one character entirely.
VERB: V adv/prep, also V n
4.
If you refer to a professional writer, such as a journalist, as a ~, you disapprove of them because they write for money without worrying very much about the quality of their writing.
...tabloid ~s, always eager to find victims in order to sell newspapers.
N-COUNT disapproval
5.
If you refer to a politician as a ~, you disapprove of them because they are too loyal to their party and perhaps do not deserve the position they have.
Far too many party ~s from the old days still hold influential jobs.
N-COUNT: oft supp N disapproval
6.
If someone ~s into a computer system, they break into the system, especially in order to get secret information.
The saboteurs had demanded money in return for revealing how they ~ed into the systems.
VERB: V into n
~ing
...the common and often illegal art of computer ~ing.
N-UNCOUNT
7.
If you say that someone can’t ~ it or couldn’t ~ it, you mean that they do not or did not have the qualities needed to do a task or cope with a situation. (INFORMAL)
You have to be strong and confident and never give the slightest impression that you can’t ~ it...
PHRASE
8.
see also ~ing