WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Gnaw
Part of Speech : v.
Etymology : [OE. gnawen, AS. gnagan; akin to D. knagen, OHG. gnagan, nagan, G. nagen, Icel. & Sw. gnaga, Dan. gnave, nage. Cf. Nag to tease.]
Definition : 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.

t. [imp. & p. p. Gnawed; p. pr. & vb. n. Gnawing.]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : Gnaw
Part of Speech : v.
Definition : Defn: 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.

i.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913