Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GNAW, v.t. [naw; Sax. gnagan; G. nagen; D. knaagen; Sw. gnaga; W. cnoi; Gr. κναω, to scrape; Ir. cnagh, cnaoi, consumption; cnuigh, a maggot; cnaoidhim, to gnaw, to consume.]

1. To bite off by little and little; to bite or serape 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. xvi.
4. To waste; to fret; to corrode.
5. To pick with the teeth. His bones clean picked; his very bones they gnaw. Dryden.