whittle down

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

They can be whittled down further.

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