gnash

From Middle English gnasten. Origin unknown; the word is probably either Germanic or onomatopoeic. Compare Old Norse gnastan, Danish gnaske ("munch", "crunch"), German knirschen, German Low German gnirschen, gnörschen (“gnash”), Swedish gnissla (“squeak; gnash”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈnæʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æʃ
• Homophone: Nash

gnash (third-person singular simple present gnashes, present participle gnashing, simple past and past participle gnashed)

1. (transitive) To grind (one's teeth) in pain or in anger.

   gnashing your teeth

2. (transitive) To grind between the teeth.

   to gnash the air in fury

   The dog was gnashing a carpet

3. (figurative) To clash together violently.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     There they were, boiling up in snowy spouts of spray, smiting and gnashing together like the gleaming teeth of hell.

4. (Geordie) To run away.

• gnash up
• gnasher/gnashers
• gnashing/gnashingly
• gnashy
• weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth

gnash (plural gnashes)

1. A sudden snapping of the teeth.

• Ghans, Shang, hangs