v. Also 5–6 corode, (7 crode). [ad. L. corrōdĕre to gnaw away, f. cor- (com-) intensive + rōdĕre to gnaw. Cf. F. corroder (Paré, 16th c.).]
† 1. trans. To eat into; to eat or gnaw away. Obs. in lit. sense.
1555. Eden, Decades, 122. Howe these woormes knawe and corrode the shyppes.
1648. Hunting of Fox, 10. The Fox (being about to destroy a vine) doth it by corroding and gnawing the root.
1746–7. Hervey, Medit. (1758), I. 163. No Moth can corrode their Texture.
[1862. Goulburn, Pers. Relig., iii. (1873), 28. The branch … corroded by insects.]
2. transf. To wear away or destroy gradually, as if by eating or gnawing away the texture.
a. Said of diseases, etc.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 79. Galion seiþ þat scharp blood … corrodiþ [MS. B. cordyth] fleisch. Ibid., 92. A festre … if þat … he haue corrodid eiþer rotid sumwhat of þe senewe.
1547. Boorde, Brev. Health, 26 b. A Canker, the whiche doth corode and eate the superia partes of the body.
1643. J. Steer, trans. Fabricius’ Exp. Chyrurg., i. 2. The Humours doe erode and knaw the place affected.
1731. Arbuthnot, Aliments, 179 (J.). The Blood turning acrimonious corrodes the Vessels.
1838. Prescott, Ferd. & Is. (1846), I. ii. 144. A painful disorder, which had been secretly corroding her constitution for a number of years.
1875. Darwin, Insectiv. Pl., vi. 103. The cartilage had been unequally corroded by the secretion.
b. Said of the action of chemical agents or rust upon metal, etc.
[c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 14. Grene vitriol … if þou leie him on moist compleccioun he … corrodith [v.r. coroduþ] it.]
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., 37. Others [i.e., inks] would corrode or fret the paper in peeces.
1667. H. Stubbe, in Phil. Trans., II. 495. The Iron-Guns … were so corroded, that some were … almost like Honey-Combs.
1703. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 264. Morter eats and corrodes the Timber.
1744. Berkeley, Siris, § 138. Iron and copper are corroded and gather rust in the air.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, II. 283. Dürer, whom Landseer supposes to be the first who corroded his plates with aquafortis.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 491. As in the sea all things are corroded by the brine.
† c. Said of the gradual action of water, currents, etc.: To erode, eat away. Obs.
1652. French, Yorksh. Spa, iii. 34. The water … corrodes its way through the same.
1692. Bentley, Boyle Lect., iv. 130. The chanels of Rivers [will be] corroded by the Streams.
1781. Rennell, in Phil. Trans., 98. The current … falling obliquely on the side of the bay, corrodes it incessantly.
3. fig.
a. 1631. Donne, To C’tess of Bedford. Statesmen purge vice with vice, and may corrode The bad with bad.
1653. Walton, Angler, 215. Those restless thoughts and contentions which corrode the sweets of life.
c. 1760. Smollett, Love Elegy, 4. Heart-gnawing cares corrode my pensive breast.
1792. Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, 24 Sept. Our time was almost all corroded by the general alarm.
1869. Lecky, Europ. Mor., I. i. 60. Luxurious and effeminate vices do undoubtedly corrode and enervate national character.
4. absol. and intr. (in prec. senses). a. lit.
1610. Markham, Masterp., II. clxxiii. 486. It adusteth, dryeth, and corrodeth.
1656. Ridgley, Pract. Physick, 122. The green of brasse corrodeth lesse when it is burned, than unburned.
1779. Mann, in Phil. Trans., LXIX. 603. So great … irregularities … in the motion of a river, as will … corrode through the banks.
1846. Darwin, Geol. Observ., i. 18. Periods of comparative rest, during which the sea corroded deeply, as it is still corroding, into the land.
b. fig.
1676. D’Urfey, Mad. Fickle, I. i. But your sawce is scurvy, and will doubtless corrode upon my Nature.
a. 1734. North, Lives (1826), III. 155. The abuses in the management of the royal navy, and the multitudinous fraud that corroded there.
1759. Goldsm., Bee, No. 7. Sabinus, By incautiously suffering this jealousy to corrode in her breast.
1861. Thornbury, Turner, I. 71. The love of money had not yet corroded into him.
5. intr. (for refl.) To become corroded, suffer corrosion. lit. and fig.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., I. 174. Some minds corrode and grow inactive under the loss of personal liberty.
1868. Rogers, Pol. Econ., iii. (1876), 31. Gold and silver … do not rust, corrode, or decay.
