Verb

(en verb)

To eat quickly, greedily, hungrily, or ravenously.

To rapidly destroy, engulf, or lay waste.

:

*Bible, (w) i. 20

If ye refuseye shall be devoured with the sword.

*{{quote-book, year=2006, author=(w)

, chapter=1, title= Internal Combustion , passage=Blast after blast, fiery outbreak after fiery outbreak, like a flaming barrage from within,

To take in avidly with the intellect.

:

*

*:Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy […] distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its savour.

To absorb or engross the mind fully, especially in a destructive manner.

:

Verb

To bite something persistently, especially something tough.

The dog gnawed the bone until it broke in two.

To produce excessive anxiety or worry.

Her comment gnawed at me all day and I couldn't think about anything else.

To corrode; to fret away; to waste.