a)REMOVEto gradually remove or reduce the amount of something 侵蚀;消耗
His gambling was eating away at their income.
他的赌博在逐渐败光他们的收入。
b)WORRIEDto make someone feel very worried over a long period of time 〔长期地〕困扰,烦扰
The thought of mother alone like that was eating away at her.
一想起母亲孤身一人的情景,她心里就不好受。
Examples from the Corpus
eat away at • The irony is that populationgrowth itself eats away at development potential.• She has Alzheimers Disease, which is eating away at her mind.• It looked misshapen in this light, almost as if something was eating away at it.• Winning the gold is not eating away at me, but I would love to make the most of this.• It eats away at money for new schools and new hospitals.• The acid began to eat away at the edge of her tunic, the bottom strands of her curly hair.• This residue gradually eats away at the healthybeliefs at the core of organizational life.• In the intervening years, as property taxes ate away at their nestegg, their proposals for other developments fell flat.