whitten (hwitn)

[Appar. 6914 especially, a large knife, as a butcher's knife or one carried in the girdle. There's not a whittle in the unruly camp. Shak., T. of A., v. 1. 183. The long crooked whittle is gleaming and bare! Barham , In golds by Legends, I. 56. I've heerd tell as whalers wear knives, and I'd ha' gi'en t'gang a taste o' my whittle if I'd been cotched up just as I'd set my foot on shore. Mrs. Gaskell , Sylvia's Lovers, iv. whittle2 (hwit'l), v.; pret. and pp. whittled, ppr. whittling. [Formerly also whitle; I asked about a delightful jumping-jack which made its appearance, and wished very much to become the owner, for it was curiously whittled out and fitted together by Mr. Teaby's own hands. The Atlantic , LXV. 88. IMG:content-2343.png:[blocks in formation] 3. To intoxicate; make tipsy or drunk. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.] After the Britans were wel whitled with wine, he fell to taunting and girding at them. Verstegan, Rest. of Decayed Intelligence (ed. 1628), p. 230. II. in trans. 1. To cut wood with a pocketknife, either aimle ly or with the intention of forming something; use a pocket-knife in cutting wood or shaping wooden things. Here is a boy that loves to run, swim,... make faces, whittle, fish, tear his clothes. O. W. Holmes , Profe or, viii. The Meggar boys... produce knives simultaneously from their pockets, split each a good splinter off the palings, and begin whittling . W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 264. 21. To confe at the gallows. [Cant.] When his last speech the loud hawkers did cry, He swore from his cart, it was all a damn'd lie!.. Then said, I must speak to the people a little, But I'll see you all damn'd before I will whittle . Swift, Clever Tom Clinch,