GNAWING

Etymology

Adjective

gnawing (comparative more gnawing, superlative most gnawing)

(of pain or hunger) severe or intense

Verb

gnawing

present participle of gnaw

Noun

gnawing (plural gnawings)

The process by which something is gnawed.

A sensation of being gnawed.

Anagrams

• wanging

Source: Wiktionary


GNAW

Gnaw, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Gnawed; p. pr. & vb. n. Gnawing.] Etym: [OE. gnawen, AS. gnagan; akin to D. knagen, OHG. gnagan, nagan, G. nagen, Icel. & Sw. gnaga, Dan. gnave, nage. Cf. Nag to tease.]

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.

Definition: 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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

8 January 2025

SYCAMORE

(noun) Eurasian maple tree with pale grey bark that peels in flakes like that of a sycamore tree; leaves with five ovate lobes yellow in autumn


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Coffee Trivia

In 1511, leaders in Mecca believed coffee stimulated radical thinking and outlawed the drink. In 1524, the leaders overturned that order, and people could drink coffee again.

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