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# gnaw

«gnaw» in Mova's judaism dictionary: **to bite or chew something again and again, especially…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (gnaw, gnaws, gnawed, gnawing); usually «gnaw at», «gnaw on», «gnaw through»

### meaning for a pupil

1) To gnaw means to bite or chew something again and again, especially something hard, like a dog with a bone or a mouse with wood. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/G/gnaw/#m1)

2) If a worry or a feeling gnaws at you, it keeps bothering you for a long time. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/G/gnaw/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: To chew or bite again and again. Job uses it for starving outcasts who chew dry ground. Interpretation: The tradition reads the picture as showing how low the poor are brought, and Job's complaint is about those who were once mocked. In the primary lessons: In science lessons, rodents (rats, mice, beavers, squirrels) gnaw because their front teeth never stop growing; gnawing wears them down. Beavers gnaw through trees to build dams. In stories, «a gnawing hunger» or «doubt gnawed at her» shows a feeling that will not go away. Phrases: «gnaw on a bone», «gnaw through», «gnaw at someone», «gnawing hunger».

### examples

- They are gaunt with want and famine; they gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of wasteness and desolation. (Writings JOB.30.3, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/G/gnaw/#x1)
- The dog gnawed on a bone under the table. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/G/gnaw/#x2)
- Mice gnawed through the bag of rice. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/G/gnaw/#x3)
- Beavers gnaw trees down to build dams. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/G/gnaw/#x4)
- A rabbit needs things to gnaw so its teeth don't grow too long. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/G/gnaw/#x5)
- Guilt gnawed at Sam after he broke the window. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/G/gnaw/#x6)
- He felt a gnawing hunger on the long walk. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/G/gnaw/#x7)
- Don't gnaw your pencil! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/G/gnaw/#x8)
- The witch returned and began gnawing the oak again. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/G/gnaw/#x9)

### note

Silent g: say «naw» (rhymes with «saw»). Regular verb: gnawed. Other words with silent g: gnome, gnat, gnu, sign. Trap: «gnaw» is not «knaw» or «nor».

### In the corpora

- [They are gaunt with want and famine; they gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of wasteness and desolation.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/JOB.751/)
- [In Aesop's fable from ancient Greece, about 2500 years ago, a little mouse saves a lion by gnawing through a net.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/18-the-lion-king-of-the-beasts/12/)
- [Squirrels are rodents whose front teeth grow all the time, about fifteen centimetres a year, and gnawing hard nuts wears them down.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/215-foxes-and-squirrels/15/)
- [The word rodent comes from the Latin rodere, to gnaw.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/316-rodents-the-biggest-group-of-mammals-and-their-ever-growing-teeth/2/)
- [Cave hyenas cracked bones with powerful jaws and dragged them to their dens, which scientists find by gnawed bones and fossil droppings.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/385-ice-age-ukraine-and-europe-cave-bears-cave-lions-the-siberian-unicorn-and-mammoth-bone-houses/17/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «gnaw» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/G/gnaw/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.