Wear away - Crossword Clue, Answer and Explanation

I've seen this clue in the Penny Press, The Times, the King Feature Syndicate, The Telegraph, The Wall Street Journal, the LA Times, The Independent, the USA Today, the Universal, the Sydney Morning Herald, The Mirror, the Evening Standard, The Guardian, The New York Times, the Newsday and The Star Tribune.

'wear away' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

This is all the clue.

(Other definitions for fret that I've seen before include "Sort of saw work" , "Fog" , "Worry unnecessarily" , "Worry; or the marking on a guitar" , "Notes separator" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Mail, The Guardian and The Telegraph.

'wear away' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

This is the entire clue.

(Other definitions for fray that I've seen before include "Wear at the edge" , "Chafe" , "Wear away from rubbing" , "Battle - loose at the edges!" , "Become stressed" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Mail, The Guardian and The Telegraph.

'wear away' is the definition.
(I know that wear away can be written as gnaw)

This is all the clue.

(Other definitions for gnaw that I've seen before include "Chew upon" , "Chew or crunch at" , "Wear away with the teeth" , "Chew at, work with teeth" , "Chew and grind down" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Mail, The Guardian and The Telegraph.

'wear away' is the definition.
(I know that abrade is a more specific form of the action the wear away)

This is all the clue.

(Other definitions for abrade that I've seen before include "Wear away by friction" , "Scratch" , "Scrape away, erode" , "Wear away by rubbing (6)" , "Wear away by rubbing, scrape" .)

I've seen this clue in The Star Tribune, The Times and the King Feature Syndicate.

Wear away (5)