1. gnaw - Noun
2. gnaw - Verb
To bite, as something hard or tough, which is not readily separated or crushed; to bite off little by little, with effort; to wear or eat away by scraping or continuous biting with the teeth; to nibble at.
To bite in agony or rage.
To use the teeth in biting; to bite with repeated effort, as in eating or removing with the teethsomething hard, unwiedly, or unmanageable.
Source: Webster's dictionarySome mornings it just doesn't seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps. Emo Philips
Existence is Appetite: the gnaw of being; the one attempt of all things to assimilate to some higher attempt. Charles Fort
Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still. Henry David Thoreau
He who is late may gnaw the bones. Gypsy Proverb
It is better to hear the nightingale sing than the mouse gnaw. Italian Proverb
In time a mouse will gnaw through a cable. Dutch Proverb