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ntinuous biting with the teeth; to nibble at. His bones clean picked; his very bones they gnaw. Dryden.

One who, or that which, gnaws.

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

A gnawing. [Obs.] Bailey.

is fastened or bound, as a cord, chain, etc.; a band; a ligament; a shackle or a manacle. Gnawing with my teeth my bonds in sunder, I gained my freedom. Shak.

A burning or gnawing pain, or feeling of distress, referred to the region of the heart, accompanied with cardisc palpitation; heartburn. It is usually a symptom of indigestion.

To gnaw into; to wear away; to fret; to consume. [Obs.] Dr. R. Clerke.

To make one's way slowly. To eat, To eat in or into, to make way by corrosion; to gnaw; to consume. "A sword laid by, which eats into itself." Byron. -- To eat to windward (Naut.), to keep the course when closehauled with but little steering; -- said of a vessel.

Eaten away; gnawed; irregular, as if eaten or worn away.

Jagged or irregularly toothed, as if nibbled out or gnawed. -- E*rose"ly, adv.

To rub; to wear away by friction; to chafe; to gall; hence, to eat away; to gnaw; as, to fret cloth; to fret a piece of gold or other metal; a worm frets the plants of a ship. With many a curve my banks I fret. Tennyson.

To make a cut or gnaw a groove around (a tree, etc.) through the bark and alburnum, thus killing it. [U. S.]

gulatus) which lays its eggs in the twigs of the hickory, and then girdles each branch by gnawing a groove around it, thus killing it to provide suitable food for the larvæ.

To growl; to snarl. And wolves are gnarling who shall gnaw thee first. Shak.

imp. of Gnaw. Chaucer.

Gnawed. Chaucer.

To seize with the teeth; to gnaw. "Knabbing crusts." [Obs.] L'Estrange.

To bite or nibble. [Obs.] Horses will knabble at walls, and rats gnaw iron. Sir T. Browne.

See Gnaw. [Obs.] Sir T. More.

The act of biting or gnawing. [Obs.]