begnaw

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

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

1. (transitive, archaic) To gnaw; to eat away at.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare:

     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."

• begnaw in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.