GNAW • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Gnaw

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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

... all constantly answered him they knew none. Having asked them all, and finding they could show him no other way, Lolonois grew outrageously passionate; so that he drew his cutlass, and with it cut open the breast of one of those poor Spaniards, and pulling out his heart began to bite and gnaw it with his teeth, like a ravenous wolf, saying to the rest, "I will serve you all alike, if you ...

— The Pirates of Panama • A. O. (Alexandre Olivier) Exquemelin

... their shelves, Dressed in dim brown, and black, and white, and green, And every kind of colour. Which will you read? Come on; O do read something; they're so wise. I tell you all the wisdom of the world Is waiting for you on those shelves; and yet You sit and gnaw your nails, and let your pipe out, And listen to the silence: on the ceiling There's one big, dizzy moth that bumps and flutters; And in the breathless air outside the house The garden waits for something that delays. There must be crowds of ghosts among the trees,— Not people killed ...

— Georgian Poetry 1918-19 • Various

... Gnaw on, my elfish rodent! Lay all the sages low! My pretty lace and ribbons, They're yours for weal or woe! My pocket-book's in tatters ...

— Poems Every Child Should Know - The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library • Various

... number of Americans marched against the British in Canada; but the cold weather came on, and they nearly starved to death: our men would sometimes take off their moccasins[19] and gnaw them, while they danced in the snow to keep their bare ...

— The Beginner's American History • D. H. Montgomery

... she heard that the Baba Yaga was near, she flung down the comb, and instantly a forest sprang up, such an awfully thick one! The Baba Yaga began gnawing away at it, but however hard she worked, she couldn't gnaw her way through it, so she had to ...

— Russian Fairy Tales - A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore • W. R. S. Ralston

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