Wiktionary
vb. 1 (context transitive English) to chew so as to make something pulpy 2 (context idiomatic transitive English) to ruin (especially land), by digging 3 (context US idiomatic transitive English) to defeat utterly
WordNet
v. censure severely or angrily; "The mother scolded the child for entering a stranger's car"; "The deputy ragged the Prime Minister"; "The customer dressed down the waiter for bringing cold soup" [syn: call on the carpet, rebuke, rag, trounce, reproof, lecture, reprimand, jaw, dress down, call down, scold, chide, berate, bawl out, remonstrate, chew out, have words, lambaste, lambast]
Usage examples of "chew up".
A single prickly little boar could chew up a whole, hard ebony pry-bar during the men's absence.
At the moment I was mad enough to chew up nails and spit out paper clips.
To tell the truth, we all waited to see rats, four or five of them, chew up his glove and lacerate his bare hand.
Scatter them on a road, especially one that's got a muddy surface, and you chew up a lot of horses' hoofs.
The entire log throbs, and something akin to peat moss showers down into his face as the bullets chew up the rotten wood.
Henry supposed they were okay - they were something to shovel into your mouth and chew up, anyway - but after eight years anything lost its charm.