Gnaw /(na̤)/

Gnaw

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Gnawed; p. pr. & vb. n. Gnawing

  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.
  2. To bite in agony or rage.
    They gnawed their tongues for pain.
    — Rev. xvi. 10.
  3. To corrode; to fret away; to waste.
  4. To trouble in a constant manner; to plague; to worry; to vex; -- usually used with at; as, his mounting debts gnawed at him.

Gnaw

v. i.
  1. To use the teeth in biting; to bite with repeated effort, as in eating or removing with the teeth something hard, unwieldy, or unmanageable.
    I might well, like the spaniel, gnaw upon the chain that ties me.