whittle

He took a square block of wood and whittled it down to form the hull of a model boat.

Dell, by not working through retail outlets, is still more efficient, but the cost benefits that this once brought have been whittled away.

presents: To Harry from Hagrid: a roughly cut wooden flute that sounded a bit like an owl. Hagrid had whittled it, himself.

Before he knows it, he has whittled his stick down to a toothpick, which snaps in his hands.

It was on this voyage that he conceived the idea of the revolver and whittled out a wooden model.

Suddenly, an impressive printout looks like a very thin reed on which to hang your future, while your account is being whittled away.

They whittled down the enemy's military and economic strength in a war of attrition.

"The capacity overhang has been quickly whittled down in major industrial sectors, " they wrote in a recent report.

Thin undoubtedly become such a period the most deadly invisible killer, one of many people were whittled variations.

Others in Washington and throughout Asia can only hope that too much U. S. leverage on China is not whittled away in the meantime.

We then whittled it down to just a phone conversation, and that was turned down, too.

One of his legs was gone at the knee and to the stump was fitted a roughly whittled wooden peg.

First, the tip of the tusk was severed with a chopping tool; then the contours of the animals were whittled with a stone knife and scraper.

Finally we whittled it down to two. Which could have been done much more quickly, probably with one question.

This has whittled down the margin between banks' deposit and home-loan rates, so lowering the cost of mortgages.

The condition, known as bruxism, has resulted in several of Mr Blair's once-sharp teeth being whittled down to stumps.

Taken together, there is a strong possibility that full-year earnings will be whittled back, particularly if the yen's rally continues.

Congress has whittled down the president's budget request for a further $400m to $100m.

However, the annual top ten predictions, whittled down from 60, are not always spot on.

It has seen its once formidable empire whittled away by court decisions, which now threaten its very existence.

The entries will be whittled down to 50 and will be displayed on Ctrip, Dale says, with voting to begin in a few weeks.

Visit their websites. When you've whittled your list down to a manageable number, make arrangements to visit.

Xi and Li remaining. It could also be whittled down to seven members, leaving five open slots.

Citi had hoped to keep its prize assets as it whittled down its separately housed "legacy" businesses.

Despite seeing his advantage whittled away in recent races, Button said that he saw no reason to feel depressed about the situation.

Against that, foreign exchange reserves are gradually being whittled back through intervention to stem the won's slide.

The income tax base has been whittled away since the last big reform in 1986.

Reports of defections suggest that the regime is being whittled away. The latest renegades included 17 footballers.

Originally, Tou Mali had a much stronger force, but the Field Mouse had whittled it down.

And the haplotype that includes the mutated gene will likewise get whittled down with each subsequent recombination.

These were whittled down to a group of 21 that investors could be 95 per cent confident would produce positive alpha.

A 30-year research subject for scientist Irene Pepperberg, PhD, Alex whittled away at the belief that parrots were simple mimics.

The collaborators whittled these down to the 27 biggest events, so that there would be no ambiguity.

Using the Force, Asajj whittled away the clone trooper guards, and then began a stunning lightsaber duel with Anakin.

Reports of defections suggest that the regime is being whittled away.

That is welcome even if the conclusion is already glaringly obvious: a wish-list of expensive kit must be whittled down.

To give the wooden beams an aged look, she whittled them down before varnishing them.

An original list of 177 monuments was whittled down to 21 by a panel of architectural experts, chaired by a former boss of UNESCO.

'They're hiring contractors, buying furniture, and they're also helping the market correct by getting inventory whittled down. '

This year China whittled down its list of crimes punishable by death.

But many remained, going through a tough process that whittled down the combined workforce from 13, 000 to about 9, 000.

The project initially considered 46 sites, but whittled that down to 14 that required detailed investigation.

Gadhafi hold whittled away as Libya revolt spreads.

The pirates had initially demanded $35m but the ransom was whittled back over months.

Once we had whittled down the required reviewer list, we could afford to give each respondent one-on-one attention.

The pencil has been whittled away to a mere stump.

Al juggled what he had whittled.

Mr Raguz replies that, since 1995, Bosnian-Croat influence has been steadily whittled away by the Bosniaks.

Japanese inventories are being whittled back, shaving 0. 3 percentage points off growth.

They can be whittled down further.

Mr Feinstein's account is sadder than Mr Johnson's, because it starts from a position of hope and idealism that is painfully whittled away.

He has whittled down the list of people from 30 to 16.