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eat away

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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WOTD – 26 December 2024

Etymology

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From eat + away.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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eat away (third-person singular simple present eats away, present participle eating away, simple past ate away, past participle eaten away) (transitive, idiomatic)

  1. To physically corrode or erode (something) gradually.
    Synonym: (archaic) begnaw
    The battery acid ate away at the metal until a large hole appeared.
    The river bank had been eaten away over the years by the flood water.
    • 1615, G[ervase] M[arkham], “[The English Hus-wife.] Of the Inward Vertues of the Minde which Ought to Bee in Euery Hous-wife.”, in Countrey Contentments, in Two Bookes: The First, Containing the Whole Art of Riding Great Horses in Very Short Time, […] The Second Intituled, The English Huswife: […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for R[oger] Iackson, […], →OCLC, page 33:
      To eate avvay dead fleſh, take Stubbe-vvort, and folde it vp in a red Docke leafe, or red VVort leafe, and ſo roſte it in the hot embers and lay it hot to any ſore, and it vvill fret avvay all the dead fleſh; […]
    • 1878, “Soil and Manure”, in The Royal Readers: Sequel to No. V (The Royal School Series; 2), London; Edinburgh: T[homas] Nelson and Sons, […], →OCLC, part II, paragraph 1, page 143:
      The wearing away of rock is the work partly of the atmosphere and partly of water. The action of the atmosphere is chemical, and eats away the rock as rust eats away iron.
    • 1992 February, “Batteries”, in Introduction to Matter, Energy, and Direct Current (Navy Electricity and Electronics Training Series, Nonresident Training Course; module 1; NAVEDTRA B72-01-00-92), Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office for the Naval Education and Training Program Management Support Activity, →OCLC, page 2-5, column 2:
      The zinc electrode has a positive charge because it has lost electrons to the carbon electrode. This positive charge attracts the negative ions (SO₄) from the sulfuric acid. The negative ions combine with the zinc to form zinc sulfate. This action causes the zinc electrode to be eaten away. […] The process of the zinc being eaten away and the sulfuric acid changing to hydrogen and zinc sulfate is the cause of the cell discharging.
  2. (figurative)
    1. To destroy (something) gradually by an ongoing process.
      Synonyms: corrode, erode
      • 1602, [John or Joshua Cooke], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie, wherein is Shewed How a Man may Chuse a Good Wife from a Bad. […], London: […] Mathew Lawe, […], →OCLC; reprinted as How a Man may Choose a Good Wife from a Bad (Old English Drama Students’ Facsimile Edition; [57]), [S.l.]: [s.n.], 1912, →OCLC, folio F2, verso:
        At your Table I vvill proue / If I can eate avvay my loue.
      • 1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, “Morality Undermined by Sexual Notions of the Importance of a Good Reputation”, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1792, →OCLC, pages 298–299:
        [T]hus does politeneſs ſport vvith truth, and eating avvay the ſincerity and humanity natural to man, produce the fine gentleman.
      • 1858 May 31 (date written), Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Incisa”, in Passages from the French and Italian Note-books of Nathaniel Hawthorne, volume I, London: Strahan & Co., […], published 1871, →OCLC, page 347:
        The sun still eats away the shadow inch by inch, beating down with such intensity that finally everybody disappears except a few passers by.
      • 2011, Eric Wilson, chapter 20, in 1 Step Away: A Modern Twist on One of the World’s Oldest Tales (By the Numbers Series; 1), Leesburg, Fla.: Bay Forest Books, →ISBN, page 113:
        During the second year, Magnus's extracurricular activities ate away at his finances. Drugs and women did not come cheap.
    2. (specifically) Chiefly followed by at: of a circumstance, incident, etc.: to cause (someone) to feel guilty, troubled, or worried; to bother.
      The guilt of having lied was eating away at him.
      Not confessing that I had stolen the money ate away at me until I could no longer sleep.
      • 1992, Eric R. Marcus, “Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis of Psychosis”, in Psychosis and Near Psychosis: Ego Function, Symbol Structure, Treatment, New York, N.Y.: Springer-Verlag, →ISBN, page 227:
        Although you didn't want him around at first, the thought of losing him now is eating away at you.
      • 1999, Terry Pluto, “The Sad Saga of 1970”, in Our Tribe: A Baseball Memoir, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 197:
        If [Tony] Horton had stuck it out for only two more days, his value would have increased. Instead, he buckled at absolutely the worst time. This ate away at him.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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