verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
away
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Repeated failure had lowered the club's reputation in the eyes of opponents and had gnawed away at membership numbers.
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The reality of reengineering has begun to gnaw away at those who had earnestly embraced this newest form of management self-improvement.
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It was too big a puzzle and she let it go although it gnawed away at the back of her mind.
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Her mind gnawed away at the questions.
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For this, in turn, gnawed away at her mind, then she began to deteriorate in body too.
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Emmie imagined the beetles busy in the roof, gnawing away at the rafters.
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Maybe you choose to seethe silently about something, letting it gnaw away at you.
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The monotony, boredom and endless waiting gnawed away at the author.
on
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Even low-sugar rusks can contain up to 15 percent sugar so give crusts of toast or a scrubbed carrot to gnaw on instead.
■ NOUN
bone
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They do not, however, collect bone , and they mostly gnaw larger pieces of bone rather than small mammal bone.
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Gentle gnawing on the tiny bones appeals to our most basic, primordial instincts.
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The cross-eyed com-poser was once again gnawing on a chicken bone , with a noodle dangling from his black beard.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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A rat's teeth are strong enough to gnaw through lead pipes.
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The cat began to gnaw at the skin of the dead snake.
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The dog lay in the yard and gnawed its bone.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Deep in the interstices of daily life, no doubt, frustrations gnawed at him and resentments festered.
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He had a wound on his thumb, which he gnawed as he looked worriedly around the car.
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If hungry he'd gnaw your ankle just to let you know to fill his bowl.
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It was too big a puzzle and she let it go although it gnawed away at the back of her mind.
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Terry saw other apes biting themselves and each other and gnawing at the bars, all classic signs of distress.
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We discovered this when the power company discovered that the pole had been so deeply gnawed that it became unsafe.