Gnaw

Gnaw - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

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.