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to shave (wood, leather, etc.); to sharpen (e.g. pencil); to plane; to whittle; to pare; to scrape off; to erode
to cut down (budget, expenses, staff, time, etc.); to curtail; to reduce
to delete; to erase; to remove; to cross out; to strike out
書きやすいように鉛筆を削って尖らせた。
I sharpened the pencil to make it easier to use.
経費節減のため来年度の予算を削らなければならない。
We have to cut the budget.
レポートを削って文字数を減らした。
I cut the report to reduce the word count.