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Debt vs Whittle - What's the difference?

debt | whittle |

As nouns the difference between debt and whittle

is that debt is an action, state of mind, or object one has an obligation to perform for another, adopt toward another, or give to another while whittle is a knife; especially, a pocket knife, sheath knife, or clasp knife or whittle can be (archaic) a coarse greyish double blanket worn by countrywomen, in the west of england, over the shoulders, like a cloak or shawl.

As a verb whittle is

(transitive|or|intransitive) to cut or shape wood with a knife.

debt

English

(wikipedia debt)

Alternative forms

* (l) (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • An action, state of mind, or object one has an obligation to perform for another, adopt toward another, or give to another.
  • * 1589 , (William Shakespeare), Henry IV, Part I , act 1, sc. 3,
  • Revenge the jeering and disdain'd contempt
    Of this proud king, who studies day and night
    To answer all the debt he owes to you
    Even with the bloody payment of your deaths.
  • * 1850 , (Nathaniel Hawthorne), (The Scarlet Letter) , ch. 14,
  • This long debt of confidence, due from me to him, whose bane and ruin I have been, shall at length be paid.
  • The state or condition of owing something to another.
  • Money that one person or entity owes or is required to pay to another, generally as a result of a loan or other financial transaction.
  • * 1919 , (Upton Sinclair), Jimmie Higgins , ch. 15,
  • Bolsheviki had repudiated the four-billion-dollar debt which the government of the Tsar had contracted with the bankers.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Engineers of a different kind , passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.}}
  • (legal) An action at law to recover a certain specified sum of money alleged to be due.
  • (Burrill)

    Derived terms

    * bad debt * debt exchange * debt-equity ratio * debt-laden * debt of honor * domestic debt * external debt * foreign debt * in debt * national debt * technical debt

    whittle

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A knife; especially, a pocket knife, sheath knife, or clasp knife.
  • * Dryden
  • A butcher's whittle .
  • * Macaulay
  • Rude whittles .
  • * Betterton
  • He wore a Sheffield whittle in his hose.

    Verb

    (whittl)
  • (transitive, or, intransitive) To cut or shape wood with a knife.
  • To reduce or gradually eliminate something (such as a debt).
  • (figurative) To make eager or excited; to excite with liquor; to inebriate.
  • * Withals
  • When men are well whittled , their tongues run at random.
    Derived terms
    * whittle down * whittling

    Etymology 2

    From an (etyl) word for "white"; akin to an Icelandic word for a white bedcover.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic) A coarse greyish double blanket worn by countrywomen, in the west of England, over the shoulders, like a cloak or shawl.
  • (Charles Kingsley)
  • (archaic) A whittle shawl; a kind of fine woollen shawl, originally and especially a white one.
  • References

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