“gnashed” is a form of
gnash
/ˈnæʃ/ verb, noun
Forms gnashes gnashing gnashed
- verb (transitive) To grind (one's teeth) in pain or in anger. “gnashing your teeth”
- verb (transitive) To grind between the teeth. “to gnash the air in fury”
- verb (figurative) To clash together violently.
- verb (Geordie) To run away.
- noun A sudden snapping of the teeth.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English gnasten. Origin unknown; the word is probably either Germanic or ultimately onomatopoeic. Compare Old Norse gnastan, Danish gnaske ("munch", "crunch"), German knirschen, German Low German gnirschen, gnörschen (“gnash”), Swedish gnissla (“squeak; gnash”), all of onomatopoeic origin.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To strike together, as in anger or pain; as, to gnash the teeth.
- verb To grind or strike the teeth together.
Etymology [OE. gnasten, gnaisten, cf. Icel. gnastan a gnashing, gn to gnash, Dan.knaske, Sw. gnissla, D. knarsen, G. knirschen.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “gnash”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details