のような他動詞的用法もある。 これはRust is eating my front door away.でもよい。 (Keikoさんが調べてくれた説明)
Colonel Robert Callum lay in bed, a terrible disease eating away at
him. ( The Lion's Game P.656 )
よく似た表現
Looking around almost every child was malnourished, some with pot bellies and the tell-tale orange hair of kwashiorkor, the type of malnutrition that leaves your body bloated with fluid, and with open wounds. Others were emaciated and frail, with protruding ribs - their bodies starving to death slowly by wasting away.
eat away って何となく雰囲気は分かるけど、日本語では? と思い、辞書を見たら、 eat away[次第にむしばむ] 「(波などが)浸食する」というのが基本的な意味だが、「次第次第にむしばむ、じわじわと影響する」というニュアンスの比喩的用例も多い。・・・自動詞的に用い、浸食の対象を前置詞atを付けて示す用法のほか、Rust is eating away my front door.(玄関のドアがさびかけている)のような他動詞的用法もある。これはRust is eating my front door away.でもよい。 だって。