From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englisheat away at something/somebody phrasal verb1 REMOVEto gradually remove or reduce the amount of something His gambling was eating away at their income.2 WORRIEDto make someone feel very worried over a long period of time The thought of mother alone like that was eating away at her. → eat→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
eat away at • The irony is that population growth 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 healthy beliefs at the core of organizational life.• In the intervening years, as property taxes ate away at their nest egg, their proposals for other developments fell flat. 