gnaw at

Outside, beavers gnaw at the vegetation around the chilly waters.

But like a million or so others in the UK, she succumbed to a disease that gnawed at her personality and cognition until it consumed her ability to function at all.

When she was a vegan-curious teenager, it gnawed at her that giving up animal products could mean sacrificing sports.

Its legislative committee chairman called public housing a form of “socialism that is gnawing at the vitals of America from within.”

She introduced herself and asked him the questions that had gnawed at her for years: Was there a second snake?