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To eat away by degrees; to wear away or diminish by gradually separating or destroying small particles of, as by action of a strong acid or a caustic alkali. Aqua fortis corroding copper . . . is wont to reduce it to a green- blue solution. Boyle.

Anything that corrodes. Bp. King.

erly irritating; as, acrid temper, mind, writing. Acrid poison, a poison which irritates, corrodes, or burns the parts to which it is applied.

A quality of bodies which corrodes or destroys others; also, a harsh or biting sharpness; as, the acrimony of the juices of certain plants. [Archaic] Bacon.

To gnaw; to eat away; to corrode. The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul. Shak.

n the agonies of death; as, he made his enemy bite the dust. -- To bite in (Etching), to corrode or eat into metallic plates by means of an acid. -- To bite the thumb at (any one), formerly a mark of contempt, designed to provoke a quarrel; to defy. "Do you bite your thumb at us " Shak. -- To bite the tongue, to kee…

Anything which corrodes, corrupts, or destroy. The cankers of envy and faction. Temple.

Any substance or means which, applied to animal or other organic tissue, burns, corrodes, or destroys it by chemical action; an escharotic.

ring, as of morbid flesh, with a hot iron, or by application of a caustic that will burn, corrode, or destroy animal tissue.

To eat away by degrees; to corrode. [Obs.] Sandys.

Capable of being corroded; corrosible. Sir T. Browne.

To corrode, as metal, by rust; to consume the flesh, as a cancer; to waste or wear away; to destroy gradually; to cause to disappear. To eat humble pie. See under Humble. -- To eat of (partitive use). "Eat of the bread that can not waste." Keble. -- To eat one's words, to retract what one has said. (See the Citation…

An adjective suffix signifying action or being; as, corrodent, excellent, emergent, continent, quiescent. See -ant.

To eat into or away; to corrode; as, canker erodes the flesh. "The blood . . . erodes the vessels." Wiseman. The smaller charge is more apt to . . . erode the gun. Am. Cyc.

gures or designs, on mental, glass, or the like, by means of lines or strokes eaten in or corroded by means of some strong acid.

To corrode; to fret; to chafe; to inflame. [Obs.] Minds exulcerated in themselves. Hooker.

To corrode; to fret away; to waste.

Incapable of being corroded, consumed, or eaten away.

Having the ironwork loose or corroded; -- said of a ship when her bolts and nails are so eaten with rust that she has become leaky.

To cause to contract rust; to corrode with rust; to affect with rust of any kind. Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them. Shak.