erode, gnaw, gnaw at, eat at, wear away
(verb) become ground down or deteriorate; “Her confidence eroded”
gnaw
(verb) bite or chew on with the teeth; “gnaw an old cracker”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
gnawn
(archaic) past participle of gnaw
• gnawed
Source: Wiktionary
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
25 March 2025
(noun) fixation (as by a plaster cast) of a body part in order to promote proper healing; “immobilization of the injured knee was necessary”
The Boston Tea Party helped popularize coffee in America. The hefty tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773 resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. In the lead up to the Revolutionary War, it became patriotic to sip java instead of tea. The Civil War made the drink more pervasive. Coffee helped energize tired troops, and drinking it became an expression of freedom.
