chaff : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: chaff	by the DICT Development Group
5 results for chaff
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
chaff n material consisting of seed coverings and small pieces of stem or leaves that have been separated from the seeds Synonym(s): chaff, husk, shuck, stalk, straw, stubble foil in thin strips; ejected into the air as a radar countermeasure v be silly or tease one another; "After we relaxed, we just kidded around" Synonym(s): kid, chaff, jolly, josh, banter
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Chaff \Chaff\, n. [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.) The scales or bracts on the receptacle, which subtend each flower in the heads of many Composit[91], as the sunflower. --Gray. {Chaff cutter}, a machine for cutting, up straw, etc., into [bd]chaff[b8] for the use of cattle.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Chaff \Chaff\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Chaffed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Chaffing}.] To use light, idle language by way of fun or ridicule; to banter.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Chaff \Chaff\, v. t. 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.
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:
Chaff the refuse of winnowed corn. It was usually burned (Ex. 15:7; Isa. 5:24; Matt. 3:12). This word sometimes, however, means dried grass or hay (Isa. 5:24; 33:11). Chaff is used as a figure of abortive wickedness (Ps. 1:4; Matt. 3:12). False doctrines are also called chaff (Jer. 23:28), or more correctly rendered "chopped straw." The destruction of the wicked, and their powerlessness, are likened to the carrying away of chaff by the wind (Isa. 17:13; Hos. 13:3; Zeph. 2:2).