chaff
/t͡ʃæf/US/t͡ʃæf/
chaff noun: the inedible parts of a grain-producing plant.
Noun
chaff (usually uncountable, plural chaffs)
- The inedible parts of a grain-producing plant.
- To separate out the chaff, early cultures tossed baskets of grain into the air and let the wind blow away the lighter chaff.
- So take the corn and leave the chaff behind.1700, [John] Dryden, “The Cock and the Fox: Or, The Tale of the Nun’s Priest, from Chaucer”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
- Straw or hay cut up fine for the food of cattle.
- By adding chaff to his corn, the horse must take more time to eat it, and time is given for the commencement of digestion, before fermentation can occur. In this way chaff is very useful, especially after long fasts.1831, William Youatt, The Horse, page 130
- Any excess or unwanted material, resource, or person; anything worthless.
- the chaff and ruin of the timesc. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Who that has prided himself on his spiritual strength has not seen it humbled to the dust? A knowledge of religion, as distinguished from experience, seems but chaff in such moments of trial.1927-1929, Mahatma Gandhi, chapter XXI, in Mahadev Desai, transl., The Story of My Experiments with Truth, published 1940
- Light jesting talk; banter; raillery.
- As for Huxter, perfectly at good-humour with himself, and the world, it never entered his mind that he could be disagreeable to anybody; and the little dispute, or “chaff,” as he styled it, of Vauxhall, was a trifle which he did not in the least regard.1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 51, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published...
- It was the chaff of the College at the time, but I could not help it.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
- Loose material, e.g. small strips of aluminum foil dropped from aircraft, intended to interfere with radar detection.
- Synonyms:
- window
Verb
chaff (third-person singular simple present chaffs, present participle chaffing, simple past and past participle chaffed)
- To use light, idle language by way of fun or ridicule; to banter.
- To make fun of; to turn into ridicule by addressing in ironical or bantering language.
- We were talking about it at mess, yesterday, and chaffing Derby Oaks—until he was as mad as a hatter.1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 10, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published...
- I’ve fallen asleep on my step as the ’bus was going on, and almost fallen off. I have often to put up with insolence from vulgar fellows, who think it fun to chaff a cad, as they call it.1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, published 1861
- Synonyms:
- quiz
- To cut up (straw or hay) for use as cattle feed.
chaff meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
chaff in Hindi
- chaff, fodder
- भूसा bhūsā
chaff in Tamil
- inedible parts of grain plant
- உமி umi
chaff in Marathi
- inedible parts of grain plant
- भुसकट bhuskaṭ
- straw or hay cut up for cattle food
- कुट्टी kuṭṭī
chaff in Urdu
- بھوسی, پھٹکن
More languagesFewer languages
- chaff in Bengali
- ভুসি bhuśi
- chaff in Malayalam
- ഉമി umi, വയ്ക്കോൽ vaykkōl, പതിര് patirŭ
- chaff in Kannada
- ಪೊಟ್ಟು, ಹೊಟ್ಟು
- chaff in Sanskrit
- पलाव palāva
- chaff in Arabic
- هَشِيم hašīm
- chaff in Indonesian
- sekam
- chaff in Thai
- แกลบ glɛ̀ɛp
- chaff in Vietnamese
- trấu
Examples of chaff in a sentence
- In the passage outside the door, the threshers, who had done their day's work, were stamping the snow off their feet before they came in, - their hair full of chaff.1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 251:
- Bobby Wick stormed through the tents of his Company, rallying, rebuking, mildly, as is consistent with the Regulations, chaffing the faint-hearted[.]1889, Rudyard Kipling, “Only A Subaltern”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 148:
Synonyms of chaff
Forms of chaff
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | chaffs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | chaffs |
| present participle | chaffing |
| past participle | chaffed |
| past | chaffed |
Origin of chaff
From Middle English chaf, from Old English ċeaf, from Proto-West Germanic *kaf. Cognate with Scots caff, Saterland Frisian Sääf, West Frisian tsjêf, Dutch kaf, German Low German Kaff, regional German Kaff.
Words formed from chaff
Phrases with chaff
- chaff cutters
- chaff engines
- winnows grain from chaff
- winnowed grain from chaff
- winnowing grain from chaff
- sorts the wheat from the chaff
- sorted the wheat from the chaff
- sorting the wheat from the chaff
- winnows the wheat from the chaff
- winnowed the wheat from the chaff
- separated the wheat from the chaff
- separates the wheat from the chaff
2 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with chaff
14 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about chaff
- What does chaff mean?
- Chaff means the inedible parts of a grain-producing plant.
- What is chaff in Hindi?
- Chaff in Hindi is भूसा (bhūsā). See Chaff meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use chaff in a sentence?
- In the passage outside the door, the threshers, who had done their day's work, were stamping the snow off their feet before they came in, - their hair full of chaff.
- What part of speech is chaff?
- Chaff can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce chaff?
- Chaff is pronounced /t͡ʃæf/ (UK).
- What is the plural of chaff?
- The plural of chaff is chaffs.
Words near chaff in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: chaff (page history and authors); भूसा (Hindi) (page history and authors); chaff (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ভুসি (Bengali) (page history and authors); chaff (Kannada Wiktionary) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-chaff.wav.
Cite this entry: “chaff.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/chaff. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.