worry

Less common meanings

5. 5
   pesterverbtransitive

   To keep bothering, annoying, or upsetting someone.

   Like a fly that keeps landing on you no matter what.

   The kids worry their teacher with the same silly questions every day.

   All afternoon the flies worried the horses in the field.

   UsageOften worry someone with questions.

   Similarharass, pester, badger, hound, plague

   Note
6. 6
   fiddle withverbtransitive

   To touch or pull at something again and again.

   He kept worrying the loose thread on his sleeve.

   She likes to worry the edge of the blanket when she's nervous.

   UsageYou worry or worry at a small thing, like a thread.

   Similarfiddle, twiddle, fidget

   Note
7. 7
   bite and shakeverbtransitive

   To grab and shake another animal by the throat, as a dog does.

   Like a dog shaking a toy hard in its teeth.

   A terrier will catch a rat and worry it until it stops moving.

   The wolf worried the fallen deer until it stopped moving.

   Similarsavage, maul, attack

   Note
8. 8
   verbobsoleteScotlandtransitive

   To kill someone by squeezing their throat.

   We read (Law's Memor. Pref. lix.) that "one John Brugh, a notorious warlock (wizard) in the parochin of Fossoquhy, by the space of thirty-six years, was worried at a stake and burned, 1643."

   1891, “Journal of Jurisprudence and Scottish Law Magazine”, in Execution of the Judgment of DeathHere, worried means strangled to death.

   Note