gnaw at

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Related to gnaw at: gnaw away

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Verb

gnaw at - become ground down or deteriorate; "Her confidence eroded"

eat at, erode, gnaw, wear away

decay, dilapidate, crumble - fall into decay or ruin; "The unoccupied house started to decay"

References in periodicals archive ?

Gnaw at the past, dig into father's cancer and find there

Black Wound

Once again, Waterford failed to raise a green flag in a big game but McGrath (right) insisted: "It wouldn't gnaw at me.

DEREK'S CLEAN SWEEP; Tactical switch was a year in the making says Deise manager; McGRATH'S SWEEPING CHANGES

The mammals are most likely multituberculates, an extinct order of archaic mammals that resemble rodents and had paired upper and lower incisors - which they used to gnaw at the bones for minerals rather than for meat.