chip away

'What the net seems to be doing is chipping away at my capacity and concentration. '

the Net seems to be. . . chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation.

And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation.

Trembling with fear, they spotted an old man with a hammer and chisel, chipping away at one of the headstones .

Trembling with fear, they found an old man with a hammer and chisel , chipping away at one of the headstones .

Unexpectedly large federal budget cuts are chipping away at quarterly growth rates with less of a cushion than previously imagined.

Through it all, her once stratospheric popularity in Alaska began chipping away.

"It was a nail in the coffin, " said Mr. Zuckoff, noting that other reporters had also begun chipping away at Ponzi's scheme.

He began by chipping away the broken surface.

The researchers are using the data to survey the body's interior before chipping away further on the fossil.

Nicolas Sarkozy is chipping away at taxes and regulations, and wants Paris to expand through private-sector development.

The Anasazi made arrowheads by chipping away at pieces of glassy obsidian (black) and chert (grey and red) until they became sharp.

The men wielded picks and axes, chipping away at the hard-baked ground.

In a low? key but determined way, Rania is chipping away at certain Jordanian taboos.

The mason was chipping away at the rock with a hammer.

By grabbing toothpicks, your friends are chipping away not only at bits of salad but at the ideological foundations of communism.

He went on chipping away incessantly, and for the first time with some success.

He was chipping away at the rock with a hammer.

While the upgrade story is still poor, Microsoft has been slowly chipping away at the problem.

But such shortages are chipping away at their emerging economic strengths.

Mr. Sarkozy has made some headway with unions, recently chipping away at the sacrosanct 35-hour workweek.

But while the internet is chipping away at print's foundations, it also provides an amazing range of alternative sources of information.

Ever since catapulting into government seven years ago, AK has been chipping away at the generals' power.

He kept chipping away at the problem until he had completely solved it.

The manager kept chipping away at the problem until he had solved it.

But as soon as Mr Perry started chipping away at her lead, Mrs Hutchison faltered.

Joe kept chipping away at the problem until he had solved it.

And Wyoming has been chipping away at its reputation as a carbonocracy.

It's about chipping away the excess stone.

"It took us four years, " Risdon says. "[The owner] didn't want to sell. We kept chipping away and chipping away. "

Sorta chipping away on it.

In the past 20 to 30 years, the behavioural-finance school has been chipping away at the efficient-market hypothesis.

When an artist starts to create a sculpture, he has to keep chipping away.

It's about chipping away perfectionism that is debilitating and often hurts us.

The boy has been chipping away at that hard rock for four hours.

although that knife was chipping away at me

chipping away at a block of marble with a chisel