Verb
wear away or erode
remove soil or rock
Source: WordNetLies and secrets, Tessa, they are like a cancer in the soul. They eat away what is good and leave only destruction behind. Cassandra Clare
Sometimes, however, this sense of isolation, like acid spilling out of a bottle, can unconsciously eat away at a person's heart and dissolve it. Haruki Murakami
In its essence, any art that relies on words makes use of their ability to eat away - of their corrosive function - just as etching depends on the corrosive power of nitric acid. Yukio Mishima
Only if some microorganism doesn't attack these tender hothouse plants and eat away at their roots, only if they don't rot! And that can happen with pineapples! Oh, yes, indeed it can! Mikhail Bulgakov
If you want to do something to destroy consumer spending, just eat away at the middle class because the other problem we have is the structural problem of middle class America. Wilbur Ross
Rain eroded the terraces Source: Internet