to chaw up

Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.

To use up; demolish.


I heerd Tom Jones swar he'd chaw me up, if an inch of me was found in them diggins in the mornin'.--Robb, Squatter Life, p. 63.

Miss Patience smiled, and looked at Joe Cash. Cash's knees trembled. All eyes were upon him. He sweat all over. Miss Patience said she was gratified to hear Mr. Cash was a musician; she admired people who had a musical taste. Whereupon Cash fell into a chair, as he afterwards observed, chawed-up.--Thorpe's Backwoods, p. 28.

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