Category:Chaff

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.)

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

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

chaff Chaff, v. t.

Defn: 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.

- ---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Chaff - The refuse of winnowed corn. It was usually burned (Exodus 15:7; Isaiah 5:24; Matthew 3:12). This word sometimes, however, means dried grass or hay (Isaiah 5:24; Isaiah 33:11). Chaff is used as a figure of abortive wickedness (Psalms 1:4; Matthew 3:12). False doctrines are also called chaff (Jeremiah 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 (Isaiah 17:13; Hosea 13:3; Zephaniah 2:2).