CHAFF

chaff

(noun) foil in thin strips; ejected into the air as a radar countermeasure

chaff, husk, shuck, stalk, straw, stubble

(noun) material consisting of seed coverings and small pieces of stem or leaves that have been separated from the seeds

kid, chaff, jolly, josh, banter

(verb) be silly or tease one another; “After we relaxed, we just kidded around”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

chaff (usually uncountable, plural chaffs)

The inedible parts of a grain-producing plant.

Coordinate term: bran

Straw or hay cut up fine for the food of cattle.

(figurative) Any excess or unwanted material, resource, or person; anything worthless.

Light jesting talk; banter; raillery.

(military) Loose material, e.g. small strips of aluminum foil dropped from aircraft, intended to interfere with radar detection.

Synonym: window

Verb

chaff (third-person singular simple present chaffs, present participle chaffing, simple past and past participle chaffed)

(intransitive) To use light, idle language by way of fun or ridicule; to banter.

(transitive) To make fun of; to turn into ridicule by addressing in ironical or bantering language; to quiz.

Source: Wiktionary

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Chaff, n. Etym: [AC. ceaf; akin to D. kaf, G. kaff.]

1. The glumes or husks of grains and grasses separated from the seed by threshing and winnowing, etc. So take the corn and leave the chaff behind. Dryden. Old birds are not caught with caff. Old Proverb.

2. Anything of a comparatively light and worthless character; the refuse part of anything. The chaff and ruin of the times. Shak.

3. 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. In this way chaff is very useful. Ywatt.

4. Light jesting talk; banter; raillery.

5. (Bot.)

Definition: The scales or bracts on the receptacle, which subtend each flower in the heads of many Compositæ, as the sunflower. Gray. Chaff cutter, a machine for cutting, up straw, etc., into "chaff" for the use of cattle.

Chaff, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Chaffed; p. pr. & vb. n. Chaffing.]

Definition: To use light, idle lagnguage by way of fun or ridicule; to banter.

Chaff, v. t.

Definition: To make fun of; to turn into ridicule by addressing in ironical or bantering language; to quiz. Morgan saw that his master was chaffing him. Thackeray. A dozen honest fellows . . . chaffed each other about their sweethearts. C. Kingsley.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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