Definition of "worry"

That worries the government, which fears that environmental activism could become the foundation for more general political opposition.

2013 August 10, “Can China clean up fast enough?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848

This is the Dog, that worried the Cat, that killed the Rat, that ate the Malt, that lay in the Houſe that Jack built.

1784, The House that Jack Built, page 7

So what if I wanted to touch my nose to the windshield? Who was it hurting? Why was it that he could repeatedly worry his change and bite his lower lip without the threat of punishment?

1997, David Sedaris, “A Plague of Tics”, in Naked, page 15

No stories, no arguments. He just worries his prayer beads.

2002, Masha Hamilton, Staircase of a Thousand Steps, page 272

We read (Law's Memor. Pref. lix.) that "one John Brugh, a notorious warlock (wizard) in the parochin of Fossoquhy, by the space of thirty-six years, was worried at a stake and burned, 1643."

1891, “Journal of Jurisprudence and Scottish Law Magazine”, in Execution of the Judgment of Death, page 397

They could never make him speak a word, although he was old enough, in short, he was a perfect worry night and day.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 305