Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Gnaw |
GnawVerb1. Bite or chew on with the teeth; "gnaw an old cracker"; "chewed on a cookie". 2. Become ground down or deteriorate; "Her confidence eroded". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "gnaw" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1050. (references) |
Synonyms: GnawSynonyms: eat at (v), erode (v), gnaw at (v), wear away (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Deterioration | Blight, rot; corrode, erode; wear away, wear out; gnaw, gnaw at the root of; sap, mine, undermine, shake, sap the foundations of, break up; disorganize, dismantle, dismast; destroy. |
Food | Verb: eat, feed, fare, devour, swallow, take; gulp, bolt, snap; fall to; despatch, dispatch; discuss; take down, get down, gulp down; lay in, tuck in; lick, pick, peck; gormandize; bite, champ, munch, cranch, craunch, crunch, chew, masticate, nibble, gnaw, mumble. |
Friction | Verb: rub, scratch, scrape, scrub, slide, fray, rasp, graze, curry, scour, polish, rub out, wear down, gnaw; file, grind. (reduce to powder). |
Pain | Sicken, disgust, revolt, nauseate, disenchant, repel, offend, shock, stink in the nostrils; go against the stomach, turn the stomach; make one sick, set the teeth on edge, go against the grain, grate on the ear; stick in one's throat, stick in one's gizzard; rankle, gnaw, corrode, horrify, appal, appall, freeze the blood; make the flesh creep, make the hair stand on end; make the blood curdle, make the blood run cold; make one shudder. |
Physical Pain | Give pain, inflict pain; lacerate; pain, hurt, chafe, sting, bite, gnaw, gripe; pinch, tweak; grate, gall, fret, prick, pierce, wring, convulse; torment, torture; rack, agonize; crucify; cruciate, excruciate; break on the wheel, put to the rack; flog. (punish); grate on the ear. (harsh sound). |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Gnaw |
| English words defined with "gnaw": Begnaw ♦ chained, Corroding lead ♦ eat into, enchained ♦ fret ♦ Gnawed, Gnawing, Gnew, grate ♦ in chains ♦ Knab, Knaw ♦ rankle, Royne ♦ To eat the wind out of a vessel. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "gnaw": Cat ♦ Nag, Nagging. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "gnaw": trout. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Go downtown and have a rat gnaw that thing off your face (Uncle Buck; writing credit: John Hughes.) Mini-me, we do not gnaw on the kitty (Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me; writing credit: Mike Myers) Careful, he might try to gnaw on your crotch (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
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| Author | Quotation |
Emo Philips | Some mornings it just doesn't seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps. |
Hitopadesa | What ever is the natural propensity of a person is hard to overcome. If a dog were made a king, he would still gnaw at his shoes laces. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | A heart does want a bone to gnaw. |
King Richard III | Shakespeare, William | Marry, they say my uncle grew so fast That he could gnaw a crust at two hours old. |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | He paused to gnaw off a piece of plug |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | The muskrat will gnaw his third leg off to be free |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | CAT, n. A soft, indestructible automaton provided by nature to be kicked when things go wrong in the domestic circle. This is a dog, This is a cat. This is a frog, This is a rat. Run, dog, mew, cat. Jump, frog, gnaw, rat. Elevenson |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Gnaw" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 61.11% of the time. "Gnaw" is used about 36 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 61.11% | 22 | 74,468 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 22.22% | 8 | 124,375 |
| Noun (singular) | 16.67% | 6 | 143,867 |
| Total | 100.00% | 36 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "gnaw": gnaw a file ♦ gnaw at ♦ gnaw at a bone ♦ gnaw at smb. ♦ gnaw away ♦ gnaw away at smb. ♦ gnaw into ♦ gnaw off ♦ gnaw round ♦ gnaw through. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
gnaw | 6 |
bone camp gnaw | 3 |
bone gnaw indiana | 3 |
bone gnaw | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "gnaw"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | gërmis, shpoj me dhëmbë, brej ndërgjegjën, brej (canker, corrode, crunch, eat away, eat up, fret, nibble). (various references) | |
Arabic | نخر (carious, grunt, rot, sneer), قضم (bite, bite into, bite nails, bite off, biting, champ, chew, crush, munch, nibble, prey, snap, worry at), قرض (advance, fret, loan, loaning, nibble, niggle), حفر بالقرض, حفر (bore, burrow, burrowing, dig, digging, digging in, ditch, drill, drilling, etch, excavate, excavation, fetch, fossilize, grave, hew, inscribe, make a hole in, pick up, pit, plough, rut, scrape, sink), تآكل (abrasion, attrition, corrode, corrosion, erode, erosion, wear out), ضايق (aggrieve, annoy, bully, distress, disturb, dog, fret, get in the way, grate, grill, harass, harrow, harry, incommode, inconvenience, irk, jar, jolt, molest, nag, persecute, pester, pick, rag, rattle, saddle, torment), أزعج (ail, annoy, beset, bother, burn, discompose, disquiet, disrupt, distress, disturb, get in the way, get on smb.'s nerves, gig, grate, hamper, harass, importune, incommode, inconvenience, infest, intrude, irk, irritate, jolt, molest, nag, niggle, obsess, offend, pain, peck, peeve, perturb, pester, plague, possess, prickle, put out, rasp, rattle, ruffle, saddle, torment, trouble, upset, vex). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | разяждам (attack, bite, burn, canker, corrode, eat, erode, fret, rust), гриза (fret, nibble), глозгам, оглозгвам, мъча (agonize, bedevil, excruciate, martyrize, prick, rankle, torment, torture, victimize, wring). (various references) | |
Chinese | 齕 , 齧咬 , 齧 , 齦 (bite, gums), 嚙 , 囓 , 咬 (Nip), 咥 (bite, loud laugh), 咋 (loud noise, shout, suddenly). (various references) | |
Czech | hryzat (twinge, worry), hlodat (nibble). (various references) | |
Dutch | knagen (nibble). (various references) | |
Esperanto | ronĝi (nibble), rodi. (various references) | |
Faeroese | gnaga. (various references) | |
Farsi | فرسودن (Tire, Wear), مانندموش جویدن , گازگرفتن (Bite, Nip, Snap), تحلیل رفتن (Assimilate, Consume, Dwindle, Eat), ساءیدن (Bruise, Chafe, Fray, Gall, Grate, Grind, Grit, Levigate, Pulverize, Rub, Scuff), خاییدن (Chew). (various references) | |
Finnish | nakertaa, kalvaa, jyrsiä, jäytää (prey upon, undermine). (various references) | |
French | ronger. (various references) | |
Frisian | kjiffe (nibble). (various references) | |
German | nagen (fester, gnaw away, nibble). (various references) | |
Greek | ροκανίζω (nibble, plane), περιτρώγω (nibble). (various references) | |
Hebrew | לכרסם (chew, mill, nibble), לכסוס (bite nails, chew, crunch, grind), לגרם (break bones), לנבור (burrow, nibble). (various references) | |
Hungarian | rág (to masticate), harapdál (to nibble). (various references) | |
Indonesian | menggerogoti (see: gerogot), menggerit (nibble, screech), mengerumit (mice), nibble (of rabbits), kerumit (nibble). (various references) | |
Italian | rosicchiare (crunch, nibble), rodere (fret, prey on). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 齧り散らす (to gnaw at and scatter around, to start a lot of things without finishing any), 齧る (to bite, to chew, to crunch, to gnaw, to have a smattering of, to munch, to nibble), 噛む (to bite, to chew, to gnaw), 噛る (to bite, to chew, to crunch, to gnaw, to have a smattering of, to munch, to nibble), 噛み切る (to bite off, to gnaw through), 咬む (to bite, to chew, to gnaw). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | かむ (to bite, to chew, to gnaw), かじりちらす (to gnaw at and scatter around, to start a lot of things without finishing any), かじる (to bite, to chew, to crunch, to gnaw, to have a smattering of, to munch, to nibble), かみきる (to bite off, to gnaw through). (various references) | |
Manx | caigney (chew, file, mumble, munch, rasp). (various references) | |
Maya | ha'ach (to gnaw). (various references) | |
Norwegian | gnage (chafe, fret, gall), nage. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | awgnay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | roer (nibble). (various references) | |
Romanian | tortura (bedevil, excruciate, grill, Harrow, lacerate, rack, tantalize, torture, wring), roade (abrade, canker, consume, corrode, crunch, eat, eat into, eat through, erode, fester, fray, fruitage, gall, hollow, nibble, prey, wear), mânca (bite, browse, consume, dine off, dine on, eat, finish, grub, have, Lodge, meal, sting, take, torment). (various references) | |
Russian | грызть (champ, crunch). (various references) | |
Scottish | creim, creidhm, cnàmh (chew, corrode, corroding, digest, digesting, gnawing, waste, wasting), cagainn (chew, masticate). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | glodati (knap, mill, nibble), mučiti (agonize, ail, beleaguer, excruciate, harass, mortify, nettle, persecute, plague, rack, rankle, tantalize, torment, torture). (various references) | |
Spanish | roer (nibble, pick). (various references) | |
Swedish | gnaga (fret), gnaga på (fret). (various references) | |
Thai | แทะ (gnaw at, gnaw on, nibble at), กระวนกระวาย (fidget, jitter, nervous). (various references) | |
Turkish | kemirmek (corrode, eat, erode, fret, nibble, pick), eziyet vermek, acıtmak (bite, cause pain, hurt, pain, sting, wring). (various references) | |
Turkmen | gemirmek (nibble). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | роз'їдати (canker, corrode, eat, eat away, erode, fret), турбувати (afflict, ail, annoy, commove, concern, derange, disoblige, embarrass, faze, harass, importune, incommode, inconvenience, perturb, put about, work, worry), гризти (champ, munch, nag, nib, nibble, scrunch). (various references) | |
Welsh | cnoi (ache, bite, chew). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | arod, arodi, conrodet, mandare, mandas, mandat, mandatis, mandebant, mandetis, mandi, mando, manduca, manducabam, manducabant, manducabat, manducabimus, manducabis, manducabit, manducabitis, manducabo, manducabunt, manducandi, manducandum, manducans, manducant, manducantem, manducantibus, manducantium, manducare, manducarent, manducaret, manducas, manducasse, manducassent, manducasset, manducasti, manducastis, manducat, manducate, manducatis, manducaturos, manducaverant, manducaverimus, manducaverit, manducaveritis, manducaverunt, manducavi, manducavimus, manducavit, manducem, manducemus, manducent, manduces, manducet, manducetis, mansi, nemrod, rodebant, rodere, rosae, rosam, rosarum, rosis. (various references) |
| Low German | 800-1100 | nibbeln. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Zephaniah Chapter 3, Verse 3 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Oi arconteV authV en auth wV leonteV wruomenoi oi kritai authV wV lukoi thV arabiaV ouc upeliponto eiV to prwi |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Principes eius in medio eius quasi leones rugientes iudices eius lupi vespere non relinquebant in mane |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | The princis therof in mydil therof as lyouns roringe; iugis therof wolues, in the euyntyde leften not in to morewe. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | Her rulers are like loud-voiced lions in her; her judges are wolves of the evening, crushing up the bones before the morning. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Zephaniah Chapter 3, Verse 3 |
| Cebuano | Ang iyang mga principe sa kinataliwad-an niya maoy mga leon nga nagangulob; ang iyang mga maghuhukom mga lobo sa kagabhion; sila walay igabilin hangtud sa kaugmaon. |
| Croatian | Njegovi su knezovi usred njega - lavovi koji rièu; njegovi su suci - vuci veèernji koji do jutra nisu kosti glodali; |
| Danish | Fyrsterne i dens Midte er brølende Løver, dens dommere som Ulve ved Kvæld, der ej levner til Morgen; |
| Dutch | Haar vorsten zijn brullende leeuwen in het midden van haar; haar rechters zijn avondwolven, die de beenderen niet breken tot aan den morgen. |
| Finnish | Sen päämiehet sen keskellä ovat ärjyviä leijonia. Sen tuomarit ovat kuin sudet illalla, jotka eivät säästä mitään aamuksi. |
| French | Ses chefs au milieu d`elle sont des lions rugissants; Ses juges sont des loups du soir qui ne gardent rien pour le matin. |
| German | Ihre Fürsten sind unter ihnen brüllende Löwen und ihre Richter Wölfe am Abend, die nichts bis auf den Morgen übriglassen. |
| Haitian Creole | Nan lavil la, chèf yo tankou lyon ki grangou. Jij yo tankou chen mawon ki soti apre solèy kouche. Yo tèlman akrèk, yo pa kite yon ti zo pou denmen maten. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Pembesar-pembesar kota itu seperti singa yang mengaum-aum. Hakim-hakimnya seperti serigala-serigala lapar; mereka sangat serakah sehingga satu tulang pun tak ada yang ditinggalkan untuk besoknya. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Segala penghulu yang di tengah-tengahnya itu seperti singa yang mengaum-aum, segala hakimnya seperti gurk pada malam, yang tiada mengikil akan tulang-tulang sampai kepada pagi hari. |
| Italian | I suoi capi in mezzo ad essa sono leoni ruggenti, i suoi giudici sono lupi della sera, che non hanno rosicchiato dal mattino. |
| Maori | He raiona e hamama ana ona rangatira i roto i a ia, he wuruhi i te ahiahi ona kaiwhakarite, kahore a ratou toenga mo te ata. |
| Norwegian | Høvdingene i den er brølende løver, dens dommere er som ulver om aftenen; de gjemmer ikke noget til om morgenen; |
| Portuguese | Os seus oficiais são leões rugidores no meio dela; os seus juízes são lobos da tarde, que nada deixam para o dia seguinte. |
| Rumanian | Cqpeteniile ei kn mijlocul ei sknt niwte lei cari rqcnesc; judecqtorii ei sknt niwte lupi de searq cari nu mai lasq nici un os pknq dimineaya. |
| Russian | лОСЪШС ЕЗП РПУТЕДЙ ОЕЗП--ТЩЛБАЭЙЕ МШЧЩ, УХДШЙ ЕЗП--ЧЕЮЕТОЙЕ ЧПМЛЙ, ОЕ ПУФБЧМСАЭЙЕ ДП ХФТБ ОЙ ПДОПК ЛПУФЙ. |
| Spanish | Sus magistrados en medio de ella son leones rugientes. Sus jueces son lobos vespertinos que no dejan hueso para la mañana. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "gnaw": gnawable, gnawed, gnawer, gnawers, gnawing, gnawings, gnawn, gnaws. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "gnaw": outgnaw. (additional references) | |
Words containing "gnaw": outgnawed, outgnawing, outgnawn, outgnaws. (additional references) | |
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"Gnaw" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: gaiw, ganow, gaw, gawa, gawd, gawn, gawt, glaw, gna, gnaa, gnab, gnac, gnad, gnah, gnap, gnau, gnawk, gnawl, gnawn, gnay, gnaz, gnib, gnip, gnw, graw, gwan, naw, Ngah, Ngwazi, unaw. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-g-n-w" | |
-1 letter: awn, gan, nag, naw, wag, wan. | |
-2 letters: ag, an, aw, na. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-g-n-w" | |
+1 letter: awing, gnawn, gnaws, gowan, swang, twang, wagon, whang, wigan, wrang. | |
+2 letters: aweing, awning, cawing, dawing, gnawed, gnawer, gowans, gowany, hawing, jawing, lawing, mawing, pawing, sawing, tawing, twangs, twangy, wading, waggon, waging, wagons, waking, waling, wangan, wangle, wangun, waning, waring, waving, waxing, whangs, wigans, wrangs, yawing. | |
+3 letters: avowing, awaking, awnings, batwing, bawling, blawing, chawing, clawing, dawning, dawting, drawing, fawning, flawing, gangway, gawking, gawping, gnawers, gnawing, gowaned, gunwale, hawking, jigsawn, lapwing, lawings, outgnaw, pawnage, pawning, ringtaw, shawing, snawing, swaging, swagman, swagmen, swaying, tawsing, thawing, twanged, twanger, twangle, wadding, waffing, wafting, wagging, waggons, wagoned, wagoner, waifing, wailing, wairing, waiting, waiving, walking, walling, wangans, wangled, wangler, wangles, wanguns, wanigan, wanning, wantage, wanting, wapping, warding, warking, warming, warning, warping, warring, washing, wasting, wauking, wauling, wawling, waxings, waxwing, weaning, wearing, weaving, whaling, whanged, whangee, windage, windbag, wingman, wrangle, yawling, yawning, yawping. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
