v.削(木头)；削减
Don't whittle the stick into a short one. 别把木棍削成短的棍。
They are trying to whittle down our salaries. 他们正著手削减我们的薪水。
Furthermore, with the equity markets still in turmoil, Freescale may not be able in the near future to whittle down its debts by selling shares to the public. 更糟糕的是，资本市场仍然一片混乱，飞思卡尔在近期通过出售股票来削减债务压力的可能性也不大。
