eat away

eat away (third-person singular simple present eats away, present participle eating away, simple past ate away, past participle eaten away)

1. To erode or corrode gradually.

   The battery acid ate away at the metal until a large hole appeared.

   The river bank had been eaten away over the years by the flood water.

• eat away at

• “eat away”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

• ate away