Dictionary

begnaw en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /bɪˈnɑ/ (cot-caught-merger)
• /bɪˈnɔː/ (UK)
• /bɪˈnɔ/ (US)

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. (archaic, transitive) To gnaw; to eat away at.
   • Above him hangs, all torn, tattered, and rat-begnawed, "A View of the Gold Mines of Peru." 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
   • […] that man might see, / What worm begnaws — that vital core concealing / All its vile, consumptive bane, […] 1832, Thomas Holley Chivers, The Path of Sorrow, Or, The Lament of Youth: A Poem, page 90:
   • The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul. 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]:
   • melancoly and begnawed palms 1979 February 3, “Anabel Millet Lee (personal advertisement)”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 27, page 13:

Forms