eat away

English

Verb

eat away (third-person singular simple present eats away, present participle eating away, simple past ate away, past participle eaten away)

1. To erode or corrode gradually.

   The battery acid ate away at the metal until a large hole appeared.

   The river bank had been eaten away over the years by the flood water.

Derived terms

• eat away at

Translations

to erode or corrode gradually

• Arabic: أَكَلَ (ar) (ʔakala), قَرَضَ (qaraḍa), نَخْرَبَ (naḵraba), أَبْلَى (ʔablā), أَهْلَكَ (ʔahlaka), تَآكَلَ (ar) (taʔākala)
• Basque: jan (eu)
• Catalan: rosegar (ca), desgastar (ca)
• Czech: rozežrat pf, rozežírat impf
• Finnish: kuluttaa (fi) (general), syövyttää (fi), nakertaa (fi), rapauttaa (fi), lahottaa (fi) (depending on the actual mechanism)
• German: zerfressen (de), nagen (de)
• Ido: manjar (io)
• Irish: creim, cnaígh
• Russian: выеда́ть (ru) impf (vyjedátʹ), вы́есть (ru) pf (výjestʹ), пожира́ть (ru) impf (požirátʹ), пожра́ть (ru) pf (požrátʹ), подмыва́ть (ru) impf (podmyvátʹ), подмы́ть (ru) pf (podmýtʹ) (of the sea)
• Spanish: carcomer (es), roer (es), apolillar (es) (as by a moth)

References

• “eat away”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• ate away