gnaw Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb bite or chew on with the teeth
    • gnaw an old cracker
  2. verb become ground down or deteriorate
    eat at; erode; gnaw at; wear away.
    • Her confidence eroded

WordNet

Gnaw transitive verb
Etymology
OE. gnawen, AS. gnagan; akin to D. knagen, OHG. gnagan, nagan, G. nagen, Icel. & Sw. gnaga, Dan. gnave, nage. Cf. Nag to tease.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Gnawed ; present participle & verbal noun Gnawing
Definitions
  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.
Gnaw intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. 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.

Webster 1913