gnaw /ˈnɔ/
(vt.)(vi.)咬,啃,消耗,折磨,侵蝕
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. --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 teeth something hard, unwieldy, or unmanageable.
I might well, like the spaniel, gnaw upon the chain that ties me. --Sir P. Sidney.
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gnaw
v 1: bite or chew on with the teeth; "gnaw an old cracker";
"chewed on a cookie"
2: become ground down or deteriorate; "Her confidence eroded"
[syn: erode, gnaw at, eat at, wear away]
[also: gnawn]