Meanings
present singular third person begnaws · participle present begnawing · past begnawed · participle past begnawed · participle past begnawn
- archaictransitiveTo gnaw; to eat away at.
melancoly and begnawed palms
1979 February 3, “Anabel Millet Lee (personal advertisement)”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 27, page 133 more examples
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][…] 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 90Above 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
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Old Englishbegnagan“to begnaw, gnaw all over”
- Middle English*begnawen
- Englishbegnaw
From Middle English *begnawen, from Old English begnagan (“to begnaw, gnaw all over”), equivalent to be- + gnaw.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with begnaw
Anagrams
Cite this entry
begnaw. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/begnaw
“begnaw.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/begnaw. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “begnaw,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/begnaw.
Source: begnaw on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.