Word: gnaw
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...Switch to Salt. Bell Labs' war on the grey squirrel dates back to the turn of the century, when the company first became conscious of the squirrels' appetite for the lead sheath in which telephone wires are encased. After the squirrels gnaw through the sheath, linemen found, moisture gets at the paper insulation around the wires, causing a short circuit and disrupting communications. Engineers went to work to find out what it is in the lead that appeals to squirrels. According to one theory, the squirrels are suffering from a nutritional disorder caused by a lack of calcium...
...reserves had poured out during Gaitskell's tenure, Butler reminded the House that "all the records show is that cheese imports were reduced to save $40 million." Butler gestured scornfully towards Gaitskell, sitting opposite. "This marvelous roaring lion," he said, "is a little mouse who could only gnaw at a piece of cheese...
...through an elaborate system of probation, starting as pilgrims and gradually working up to burgher, squire and knight. They bear special names: e.g., a Hollywood physician is known as Knight Hypocrates or the Pill Peddler. Members carry swords and wear helmets, use what they consider to be antique language ("gnaw" for eat, "torch" for cigar), and engage in musical and beer-drinking contests. In the works: a club house with moat and drawbridge...
...fierce, unending war against the insects, man is getting exactly nowhere. There may be as many as 2,500,000 species of insects infesting the world, and in the U.S. alone about 10,000 of them are public enemies. Night & day they gnaw at crops, bore into homes and warehouses, attack men and animals...
Inside the perimeter is vast, antlike turmoil. Old roads are swallowed up overnight; new roads are unrolled. Gigantic machines gnaw through the hills, leaving wounds of bright red earth. Brooks flow no more; they disappear into pipes. "Here's how they build a road in there," said a numbed South Carolinian. "First come bulldozers tearing up the ground. Then come more machines smoothing it down again. Then comes the tar; then come the rollers. It all moves at a good smart pace. Behind comes a little man walking along, painting a white line...