chaff

To chaff is to tease, especially in a light-hearted way.

(verb)

When you joke around with someone and tease him, this is an example of a situation where you chaff.

The definition of chaff refers to useless things, grain husks and fine-cut straw, or light-hearted spoken exchanges.

(noun)

See chaff in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

the husks of wheat or other grain separated in threshing or winnowing
fine-cut hay or straw, used for fodder
anything regarded as worthless
tiny strips of metal foil used to confuse enemy radar
good-natured teasing or joking; banter
Bot. the bracts that enclose the individual florets on the receptacles of certain composite heads

Origin: ME chaf < OE ceaf; akin to MDu caf, Ger kaff

transitive verb, intransitive verb

to tease or ridicule in a good-natured way

See chaff in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

Botany Thin dry bracts or scales, especially:
a. The dry bracts enclosing mature grains of wheat and some other cereal grasses, removed during threshing.
b. The scales or bracts borne on the receptacle among the small individual flowers of many plants in the composite family.
Finely cut straw or hay used as fodder.
Trivial or worthless matter: ignored the picky, unimportant criticisms that were just a lot of chaff.
Strips of metal, foil, or glass fiber with a metal content, cut into various lengths and having varying frequency responses, that are used to reflect electromagnetic energy as a radar countermeasure. These materials, usually dropped from aircraft, also can be deployed from shells or rockets.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English chaf

Origin: , from Old English ceaf

Related Forms: