chafer
chafer noun: one who chafes.
Noun (1)
chafer (plural chafers)
- One who chafes.
- A vessel for heating water; hence, a dish or pan.
- A chafer of water to cool the ends of the irons.1643, Richard Baker, Chronicle of the Kings of England from the Time of the Romans' Government unto the Death of King James
- A vessel for holding burning coals or hot water used as a warmer.
- Enter Mephoſtophilis with the Chafer of fire. / Meph. See Fauſtus here is fire, ſet it on.1589–1592 (date written), Ch[ristopher] Mar[lowe], The Tragicall Historie of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus. […], London: […] Iohn Wright, […], published 1616 (1631 reprint), →OCLC, page [21]
Noun (2)
chafer (plural chafers)
- Any of several scarab beetles, including the cockchafer, leaf chafer, and rose chafer.
- He who torments the Chafers sprite
Weaves a Bower in endleſs Nightc. 1803, William Blake, “Auguries of Innocence” in the Pickering Manuscript
- He who torments the Chafers sprite
Forms of chafer
| plural | chafers |
|---|
Origin of chafer
From Middle English chaufour, chafour, from Anglo-Norman chaufour, from Latin calefactōrium; equivalent to chafe + -er.
From Middle English chafur, chavere, from Old English ċeafor, from Proto-West Germanic *kefrō (“beetle”). Cognate with German Käfer and Dutch kever.
Words formed from chafer
Phrases with chafer
Questions about chafer
- What does chafer mean?
- Chafer means one who chafes.
- What part of speech is chafer?
- Chafer is a noun.
- What is the plural of chafer?
- The plural of chafer is chafers.
Words near chafer in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: chafer (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-chafer.oga.
Cite this entry: “chafer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/chafer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.