Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who or that which gnaws or corrodes.
  • noun In zoology: A rodent.
  • noun plural The Rodentia, Rosores, or Glires.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who, or that which, gnaws.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A rodent.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A rodent or other similar type of animal that gnaws.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun relatively small placental mammals having a single pair of constantly growing incisor teeth specialized for gnawing

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

to gnaw + -er

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Examples

  • (A delightful true story of food, Paris, and the fulfillment of a lifelong dream) rongeur (ron-zhay) noun, masculine rodent, gnawer

    French Word-A-Day: 2007

  • (A delightful true story of food, Paris, and the fulfillment of a lifelong dream) rongeur (ron-zhay) noun, masculine rodent, gnawer

    French Word-A-Day: 2007

  • (A delightful true story of food, Paris, and the fulfillment of a lifelong dream) rongeur (ron-zhay) noun, masculine rodent, gnawer

    rongeur - French Word-A-Day 2007

  • Crumb-snatcher am I called, and I am the son of Bread-nibbler — he was my stout-hearted father — and my mother was Quern-licker, the daughter of Ham-gnawer the king: she bare me in the mouse-hole and nourished me with food, figs and nuts and dainties of all kinds.

    Hesiod, Homeric Hymns, and Homerica 2007

  • Among them were the teeth of a gnawer, equalling in size and closely resembling those of the Capybara, whose habits have been described; and therefore, probably, an aquatic animal.

    Journal of researches into the geology and natural history of the various countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle 2003

  • Among them were the teeth of a gnawer, equalling in size and closely resembling those of the Capybara, whose habits have been described; and therefore, probably, an aquatic animal.

    Journal of researches into the geology and natural history of the various countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle 2003

  • A gnawer by nature, the hamster had formidable, chisel-like incisors in both upper and lower jaws, and it knew how to use them.

    TO STORM HEAVEN ESTHER FRIESNER 1990

  • Quern-licker, the daughter of Ham-gnawer the king: she bare me in the mouse-hole and nourished me with food, figs and nuts and dainties of all kinds.

    Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica Hesiod

  • Before we had been long on the Barrier he developed mischievous habits and became a rope eater and gnawer of other ponies 'fringes, as we called the coloured tassels we hung over their eyes to ward off snow-blindness.

    The Worst Journey in the World Antarctic 1910-1913 Apsley Cherry-Garrard 1922

  • Among them were the teeth of a gnawer, equalling in size and closely resembling those of the Capybara, whose habits have been described; and therefore, probably, an aquatic animal.

    Chapter V 1909

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