Definition of "gnaw"

gnaw

/nɔː/

verb
third-person singular simple present gnaws, present participle gnawing, simple past gnawed or (dialectal) gnew, past participle gnawed or (archaic) gnawn
1. (transitive, intransitive) To bite something persistently, especially something tough.
  Quotations
  Ten thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon
  c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene iv], line 25
2. (intransitive) To produce excessive anxiety or worry.
3. To corrode; to fret away; to waste.
  Quotations
  VVots thou vvho's returnd, / The unthrift Bonvile, ragged as a ſcarre-crovv / The VVarres have gnavv'd his garments to the skinne: […]
  1637, Thomas Heywood, The Royall King, and the Loyall Subject. […], London: […] Nich[olas] and John Okes, for James Becket, […], Act III, signature E4, verso
noun
plural gnaws
1. the act of gnawing