begnaw

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English

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Etymology

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From Middle English *begnawen, from Old English begnagan (to begnaw, gnaw all over), equivalent to be- +‎ gnaw.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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begnaw (third-person singular simple present begnaws, present participle begnawing, simple past begnawed, past participle begnawed or begnawn)

  1. (transitive, archaic) To gnaw; to eat away at.
    • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: []”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
      The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul.
    • 1832, Thomas Holley Chivers, The Path of Sorrow, Or, The Lament of Youth: A Poem, page 90:
      [] that man might see, / What worm begnaws — that vital core concealing / All its vile, consumptive bane, []
    • 1860, William Hogarth: Painter, Engraver and Philosopher; Essays on the Man, the Work, and the Time, VII, A History of Hard Work, in The Cornhill Magazine, volume 2, issues 7-12, page 238:
      Above him hangs, all torn, tattered, and rat-begnawed, "A View of the Gold Mines of Peru."

References

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Anagrams

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