Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Wear away   /wɛr əwˈeɪ/   Listen
verb
Wear  v. t.  (past wore; past part. worn; pres. part. wearing)  
1.
To carry or bear upon the person; to bear upon one's self, as an article of clothing, decoration, warfare, bondage, etc.; to have appendant to one's body; to have on; as, to wear a coat; to wear a shackle. "What compass will you wear your farthingale?" "On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore, Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore."
2.
To have or exhibit an appearance of, as an aspect or manner; to bear; as, she wears a smile on her countenance. "He wears the rose of youth upon him." "His innocent gestures wear A meaning half divine."
3.
To use up by carrying or having upon one's self; hence, to consume by use; to waste; to use up; as, to wear clothes rapidly.
4.
To impair, waste, or diminish, by continual attrition, scraping, percussion, on the like; to consume gradually; to cause to lower or disappear; to spend. "That wicked wight his days doth wear." "The waters wear the stones."
5.
To cause or make by friction or wasting; as, to wear a channel; to wear a hole.
6.
To form or shape by, or as by, attrition. "Trials wear us into a liking of what, possibly, in the first essay, displeased us."
To wear away, to consume; to impair, diminish, or destroy, by gradual attrition or decay.
To wear off, to diminish or remove by attrition or slow decay; as, to wear off the nap of cloth.
To wear on or To wear upon, to wear. (Obs.) "(I) weared upon my gay scarlet gites (gowns.)"
To wear out.
(a)
To consume, or render useless, by attrition or decay; as, to wear out a coat or a book.
(b)
To consume tediously. "To wear out miserable days."
(c)
To harass; to tire. "(He) shall wear out the saints of the Most High."
(d)
To waste the strength of; as, an old man worn out in military service.
To wear the breeches. See under Breeches. (Colloq.)






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar





"Wear away" Quotes from Famous Books



... explanation, Edoardo, is here in my head, but not in my heart. The explanation, Edoardo, is that I love you too much, and I am not pleased with myself. Yes, but there are sorrows, Edoardo, which sadly wear away our life; but these sorrows are a need, a duty, and to forget them is a crime. My poor sister, the only friend I have ever had, that poor saint, the victim of love, dead through the treachery of a man hardly two years since: on memory ...
— Tales for Young and Old • Various

... seat on horseback is on a high pad-saddle, with the knee almost vertical and the heel well drawn back. Spurs are not worn, and another remarkable thing is that he has absolutely no guard to his sword. The Russian soldier scorns buttons; he says, "They are a nuisance; they have to be cleaned, they wear away the cloth, they are heavy, and they attract the attention ...
— America's War for Humanity • Thomas Herbert Russell

... not to try him too hardly. Put it to yourself,—which is the kinder justice, a full confession now, or a late one hereafter, when longer subterfuge has made it harder for you to offer, bitterer for him to receive? I tell you, Sylvia, it were more merciful to murder him outright than to slowly wear away his faith, his peace, and love by a vain endeavor to perform as a duty what should be your sweetest pleasure, and what will soon become a burden ...
— Moods • Louisa May Alcott

... most poignant pain Will wear away 'neath hail and rain, And rush of winds through branches bare With something still ...
— The Home Book of Verse, Vol. 3 (of 4) • Various

... chisels. The grinders or molars are large, and have an extremely complicated structure, being composed of a number of different substances of unequal hardness. The consequence of this is that they wear away at different rates; and, hence, the surface of each grinder is always as uneven as that of a ...
— Darwinism (1889) • Alfred Russel Wallace


More quotes...



Copyright © 2025 Dictionary One.com