From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englisheat something ↔ away phrasal verbREDUCEto gradually remove or destroy something SYN erode The stones are being eaten away by pollution. → eat→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
eat away• Azhag was not entirely Azhag any more, the immeasurably strong personality of Nagash was gradually eating him away.• He never brought in anything unless he had plans to eat it right away.• Or you could always eat them straight away!• If you were to eat one right away, it would be doughy and underdone.• Elizabeth: No, I could eat and get away with it. 