GNAW • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Gnaw

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/nɔ/ Listen

verb

Gnaw v. t. (past gnawed; past part. gnawn; pres. part. gnawing)

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."

To bite in agony or rage. "They gnawed their tongues for pain."

To corrode; to fret away; to waste.

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. (past gnawed; past part. gnawn; pres. part. gnawing) 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."

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Etymology of 'Gnaw'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Gnaw" Quotes from Famous Books

... we don't know about each other," she had said. "We each know the other's weaknesses and strength. I hate the way you gnaw your mustache when you're troubled, and I think the fuss you make when the waiter pours your coffee without first having given you sugar and cream is the most absurd thing I've ever seen. But, then, I know how it annoys you to see me sitting with ...

— Emma McChesney & Co. • Edna Ferber

... and curse you. You may think yourself safe when you quit this room-safe, and from my hatred you may be so but do not deceive yourself. The curse of the widow and the orphan shall pursue—it shall cling to you and yours—it shall gnaw your heart in the midst of splendour—it shall cleave to the heritage of your son! There shall be a deathbed yet, beside which you shall see the spectre of her, now so calm, rising for retribution from the grave! These words—no, you never ...

— Night and Morning, Volume 1 • Edward Bulwer Lytton

... so," he said at last, quietly. "The worn old heart can gnaw on itself a little longer. I have no mind to whimper ...

— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. IX., March, 1862., No. LIII. - A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics, • Various

... children with the dirty faces and meddling fingers, who poke their hands into our haversacks, to the farm servants who inspect all our belongings when we are out on parade, and even now we have become accustomed to the very rats that scurry through the barn at midnight and gnaw at our equipment and devour our rations when they get hold of them. One night a rat bit a man's nose—but the tale is a long one and I will tell ...

— The Red Horizon • Patrick MacGill

... any old porcupine coming here and eating up our grub. They almost gnaw through a steel plate to get at anything greasy or salty," he explained. "We'll call this camp, and we'll stop here to-night, because I can see that if we go up to that trail and do any waiting around it will be too late for us ...

— The Young Alaskans on the Trail • Emerson Hough

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