whittle

noun

1. A knife; especially, a clasp-knife, pocket knife, or sheath knife.

   “Novv if any man can be ſo unkind to his ovvn Body, for I meddle not vvith your Souls, as to ſtand ſtill like a good Chriſtian, and offer his VVeeſon to a Butcher's VVhittle, I ſay no more but that he may be ſav'd, and that's the beſt can come on him.”

   “Rude whittles.”

   “The Sheffield whittle was the common knife of the country, which every one carried for general purposes, who was not entitled by rank to wear a sword.”

2. (archaic)A covering for a bed; sheet.
3. (archaic)A coarse greyish double blanket worn over the shoulders, like a cloak or shawl.

   “Her figure is tall, graceful, and slight; the severity of its outlines suiting well with the severity of her dress, with the brown stuff gown, and plain gray whittle”

4. (archaic)A kind of fine woollen shawl, originally and especially a white one.
5. (archaic, dialectal)A baby's flannel; a baby's woollen napkin; a flannel petticoat.

verb

1. (intransitive, transitive)To cut or shape wood with a knife.

   “He was sitting on a bench before the fire, with his feet on the stove hearth, and in one hand was holding close up to his face that little negro idol of his; peering hard into its face, and with a jack-knife gently whittling away at its nose, meanwhile humming to himself in his heathenish way.”

2. (transitive)To reduce or gradually eliminate something (such as a debt).
3. (figuratively, transitive)To make eager or excited; to excite with liquor; to inebriate.

   “When men are well whitled, their toungs run at randome”