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Glite Dictionary
😟 To feel anxious 😟 Anxiety 😰 To trouble someone ⚠️ A cause of stress 🐶 To bite repeatedly ✏️ To fidget with
to worry

to worry

14 7.9
To bite and tear something repeatedly with the teeth
  • verb
  • /ˈwɜri/
  • Archaic
translation icon : roer
  • His hand had grasped Alfred and was worrying the man like a dog worried a rat.

Examples

  • - He'll fill thee with lead, he will, worrying sheep.

    The Plague Dogs (1982)

  • Rumbling thunder shook the house softly, like a dog worrying a worn-out toy.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • I want you to worry that idea like a loose tooth.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Therefore... ...I want you to worry those pitchers till they come apart.

    42 (2013)

  • The dog began to worry at the old piece of wood, trying to get at the tasty morsel inside.

  • As he watched the puppy worry the stick, he couldn't help but laugh at its playful determination.

  • The terrier would often worry the garden hose, tugging at it with his teeth until it was frayed.

Idioms

what, me worry
  • Archaic
9.9

To say you do not care about something in a playful way

Phrasal Verbs

to worry about
∞ 2.0

Feel afraid about what might happen to someone or something

How Aggressive

to mangle
  • NSFW
21 6.1
to worry
  • Archaic
14 7.9
to nibble
56 2.0

Surface Forms

worry infinitive
worrying present participle
worries third person singular
worried past
worried past participle

Etymology

Worry The use of worry for an animal biting and tearing comes from the old sense of wyrgan meaning 'to seize and tear'. That is why we still say a dog 'worried' its prey.