GNAW, v.t. naw. [ Gr. to scrape.]
1. To bite off by little and little; to bite or scrape off with the fore teeth; to wear away by biting. The rats gnaw a board or plank; a worm gnaws the wood of a tree or the plank of a ship.
2. To eat by biting off small portions of food with the fore teeth.
3. To bite in agony or rage.
They gnawed their tongues for pain. Rev 16.
4. To waste; to fret; to corrode.
5. To pick with the teeth.
His bones clean picked; his very bones they gnaw.
GNAW, v.i. naw. To use the teeth in biting.
I might well, like the spaniel, gnaw upon the chain that ties me.
