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.

   Synonym: chatter

   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