EATING AWAY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does eating away mean? 

• EATING AWAY (noun)
  The noun EATING AWAY has 1 sense:

1. (geology) the mechanical process of wearing or grinding something down (as by particles washing over it)

  Familiarity information: EATING AWAY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EATING AWAY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(geology) the mechanical process of wearing or grinding something down (as by particles washing over it)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

eating away; eroding; erosion; wearing; wearing away

Hypernyms ("eating away" is a kind of...):

geologic process; geological process ((geology) a natural process whereby geological features are modified)

Domain category:

geology (a science that deals with the history of the earth as recorded in rocks)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "eating away"):

chatter mark (marks on a glaciated rock caused by the movement of a glacier)

ablation (the erosive process that reduces the size of glaciers)

abrasion; attrition; corrasion; detrition (erosion by friction)

beach erosion (the erosion of beaches)

deflation ((geology) the erosion of soil as a consequence of sand and dust and loose rocks being removed by the wind)

planation (the process of erosion whereby a level surface is produced)

soil erosion (the washing away of soil by the flow of water)

 Context examples 

Even Silver, eating away, with Captain Flint upon his shoulder, had not a word of blame for their recklessness.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

An eating away or breakdown of any type of external or internal human tissue including but not limited to skin, teeth, mucosa, or somatic, which involves only the outer tissue layer.

(Erosion, NCI Thesaurus)

Jo, who refused, thinking there might not be enough, for they dwindled sadly after the picking over, glanced at Laurie, but he was eating away manfully, though there was a slight pucker about his mouth and he kept his eye fixed on his plate.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)