Hypertext Webster Gateway: "gnaw"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Gnaw \Gnaw\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Gnawed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Gnawing}.] [OE. gnawen, AS. gnagan; akin to D. knagen, OHG.
gnagan, nagan, G. nagen, Icel. & Sw. gnaga, Dan. gnave, nage.
Cf. {Nag} to tease.]
1. To bite, as something hard or tough, which is not readily
separated or crushed; to bite off little by little, with
effort; to wear or eat away by scraping or continuous
biting with the teeth; to nibble at.
His bones clean picked; his very bones they gnaw.
--Dryden.
2. To bite in agony or rage.
They gnawed their tongues for pain. --Rev. xvi.
10.
3. To corrode; to fret away; to waste.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Gnaw \Gnaw\, v. i.
To use the teeth in biting; to bite with repeated effort, as
in eating or removing with the teethsomething hard, unwiedly,
or unmanageable.
I might well, like the spaniel, gnaw upon the chain
that ties me. --Sir P.
Sidney.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
gnaw
v 1: bite or chew on with the teeth; "gnaw an old cracker";
"chewed on a cookie"
2: become ground down or deteriorate; "Her confidence eroded"
[syn: {erode}, {gnaw at}, {eat at}, {wear away}]
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