Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Gnaw

Gnaw (na̤), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Gnawed (na̤d); 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.

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.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.