What does chaff mean?

Definitions for chaff
tʃæf, tʃɑfchaff

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word chaff.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. chaff, husk, shuck, stalk, straw, stubblenoun

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

  2. chaffverb

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

  3. kid, chaff, jolly, josh, banterverb

    be silly or tease one another

    "After we relaxed, we just kidded around"

Wiktionary

  1. chaffnoun

    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.

  2. chaffnoun

    By extension, any excess or unwanted material, resource, or person; anything worthless.

    There are plenty of good websites on the subject, but take care to separate the wheat from the chaff.

  3. chaffnoun

    Loose material dropped from aircraft specifically to interfere with radar detection.

  4. chaffverb

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

  5. chaffverb

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

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. CHAFFnoun

    Etymology: ceaf, Sax. kaf, Dutch.

    We shall be winnow’d with so rough a wind,
    That ev’n our corn shall seem as light as chaff,
    And good from bad find no partition. William Shakespeare, Henry IV.

    Pleasure with instruction should be join’d;
    So take the corn, and leave the chaff behind. Dryden.

    He set before him a sack of wheat, as it had been just threshed out of the sheaf; he then bid him pick out the chaff from among the corn, and lay it aside by itself. Spectator, №. 291.

Wikipedia

  1. Chaff

    Chaff (; also UK: ) is the dry, scaly protective casing of the seeds of cereal grains, or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material such as scaly parts of flowers, or finely chopped straw. Chaff is indigestible by humans, but livestock can eat it and in agriculture it is used as livestock fodder, or is a waste material ploughed into the soil or burned.

ChatGPT

  1. chaff

    Chaff generally refers to the husks of corn or other grain separated by winnowing or threshing. It can also metaphorically refer to something considered worthless or insignificant. In a technological context, chaff refers to thin strips of metal, often used to disrupt radar detection.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Chaffnoun

    the glumes or husks of grains and grasses separated from the seed by threshing and winnowing, etc

  2. Chaffnoun

    anything of a comparatively light and worthless character; the refuse part of anything

  3. Chaffnoun

    straw or hay cut up fine for the food of cattle

  4. Chaffnoun

    light jesting talk; banter; raillery

  5. Chaffnoun

    the scales or bracts on the receptacle, which subtend each flower in the heads of many Compositae, as the sunflower

  6. Chaffverb

    to use light, idle language by way of fun or ridicule; to banter

  7. Chaffverb

    to make fun of; to turn into ridicule by addressing in ironical or bantering language; to quiz

  8. Etymology: [AC. ceaf; akin to D. kaf, G. kaff.]

Wikidata

  1. Chaff

    Chaff is the dry, scaly protective casings of the seeds of cereal grain, or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material such as scaly parts of flowers, or finely chopped straw. Chaff is inedible for humans, but livestock can eat it and in agriculture it is used as livestock fodder, or is a waste material ploughed into the soil or burnt.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Chaff

    chaf, n. a general name for the husks of corn or other grain as threshed or winnowed: refuse, or worthless matter: light banter, badinage.—v.t. to banter, or tease, by some raillery.—ns. Chaff′-cut′ter, Chaff′-en′gine, a machine for cutting straw or hay into chaff.—n. and p.adj. Chaff′ing.—adv. Chaff′ingly.—adjs. Chaff′less; Chaff′y. [A.S. ceaf; cf. Dut. kaf.]

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms

  1. chaff

    Radar confusion reflectors, consisting of thin, narrow metallic strips of various lengths and frequency responses, which are used to reflect echoes for confusion purposes. Causes enemy radar guided missiles to lock on to it instead of the real aircraft, ship, or other platform. See also deception; rope.

Etymology and Origins

  1. Chaff

    A corruption of chafe, to make hot with anger, as heat may be produced by friction.

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of chaff in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of chaff in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of chaff in a Sentence

  1. David Garofalo:

    Right now we're trying to separate the wheat from the chaff.

  2. Arabic Proverb:

    A friend is one to whom one can pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keeping what is worth keeping, and, with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away.

  3. Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.:

    Newpaper editors are men who separate the wheat from the chaff, and then print the chaff.

  4. Proverb:

    If you borrow some chaff from the rich man you have to repay him with wheat.

  5. Mike Peterson:

    So what we intend to do is keep the calm and keep the good inclusion, belonging, kindness, respect, but anything that creeps over into critical race theory, division, intersectionality, some voices being more valid based on the speaker and not on the merit or the virtue of the argument, we're going to separate the wheat from the chaff, keep the good and we're going to get rid of the bad.

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Translations for chaff

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"chaff." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Dec. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/chaff>.

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1 Comment
  • Chrys Ostrander
    Chrys Ostrander
    Another instance of chaff as a verb is "to chaff" which means to chop into pieces as in the phrase "chaff the green and dry fodder to avow wastage," related to "Proto-Germanic *kaf- "to gnaw, chew" (cf. Middle Dutch and Dutch kaf, German Kaff)" Modern Language Association (MLA):
    "chaff." Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. 01 Jun. 2015. Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chaff . Probably also relates to "chafe," "chew," and "chop." 
    LikeReply 29 years ago

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