"shave away" VS "shaving away at"
He's been shaving away at my armor a little at a time for a while now.

Without 'at' in this sentence, does the whole meaning change? Why they have to put 'at' there?

Question

"shave away" VS "shaving away at"
> He's been shaving away at my armor a little at a time for a while now.

Without 'at' in this sentence, does the whole meaning change? Why they have to put 'at' there?

Answer

No, the meaning doesn’t change.  The best way to understand “shaving away at” is that it appears to be the author’s alteration of the common idiom/set phrase/cliche “chip away at.”  The author, maybe wanting to avoid using such a common phrase, altered it by using “shave” in place of “chip”, but kept the “at” that is part of the set phrase.

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