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Greek

To gnaw

μασσάομαιStrong’s G3145

massaomai

Appears in 1 verse of the New Testament

In short

Massaomai is the Greek word usually translated “were gnawing”. It appears in 1 verse of the New Testament.

“And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,”
Revelation 16:10 KJV
Meaning

Usually translated “were gnawing”. Open the dictionary entry below for the full range of meaning, with the verses it cites.

How it's translated
  • they were gnawing 1

Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.

Where it's used most
  • Revelation 1

1 book in all.

Related words
Explore in Scripture
    Greek dictionary

    μασσάομαι massaomai · to gnaw

    μασάομαι (Rec. μασσ), -ῶμαι (Aristoph. and late writers, but not in Trag. or in good Att.. prose), [in LXX: Job.30:4 (לֶחֶם), Sir.19:9 A * ;] to bite, chew: Rev.16:10.† (AS)

    From STEPBible’s Greek lexicon (based on Abbott-Smith).

    Webster's 1828 Dictionary

    How the English word “gnaw” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.

    GNAW, verb transitive

    naw. [ Gr. to scrape.]

    1. To bite off by little and little; to bite or scrape off with the fore teeth; to wear away by biting.
    2. To eat by biting off small portions of food with the fore teeth.
    3. To bite in agony or rage.“They gnawed their tongues for pain” Revelation 16:10
    4. To waste; to fret; to corrode.
    All definitions and other forms of “gnaw”
    1. To pick with the teeth.

    GNAW, verb intransitive

    naw. To use the teeth in biting.

      Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.

      Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Greek, not from any one translation.