Corrode
CORRODE, verb transitive [Latin , to eat or gnaw.]
1. To eat away by degrees; to wear away, or diminish, by gradually separating small particles from a body, in the manner an animal gnaws a substance. Thus, nitric acid corrodes copper.
2. To wear away by degrees; to prey upon; to impair; to consume, or diminish by slow degrees. Jealousy and envy corrode the constitution. Substances are corroded by time. The anxious man is a victim to corroding care.