Forms: 4 chaufe-n, chawffe, chafen, 4–6 chauffe, 5 chawfe, 4–6 chauf, chaffe, 5–7 chaufe, 6 chaafe, caff(e, chafen, 6–9 chaff, 5– chafe. Pa. t. & pple. 4 chauffede, chaufid, chefede, chauffit, 4–6 chaufed, chauffed, 5 chaufet, chauffid, chaffyd, 6 caffed, chafde, chafte, chauft, chafid, 7 chaft, 5–9 chaffed, 5– chafed. [ME. chaufe-n, a. OF. chaufe-r, mod. chauffer to warm = Pr. calfar, It. calefare:—late L. or Rom. *calefāre, contr. from L. calefacĕre to heat, make warm, f. calēre to be warm + facĕre to make. In Eng. the diphthong au was, as in other AF. words, reduced to long (ā), and this in regular phonetic course to (ēi): cf. gauge, safe, Ralph, chamber.]
I. Transitive senses.
† 1. To warm, heat. Obs.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. xliv. 15. He toc of hem, and is chaufed [1388 warmed].
c. 1420. Anturs of Arth., xxxv. A schimnay of charcole, to chaufen the knyȝte.
c. 1440. Anc. Cookery, in Househ. Ord. (1790), 455. Chauf hit over the fyre.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froissart, cxvi[xii]. 333. His bedde was wont to be chafed with a bason with hote coles.
c. 1535. Dewes, Introd. Fr., in Palsgr., 940. To caffe or warme, chauffer.
a. 1577. Gascoigne, Dulce Bellum inexp., Wks. (1587), 123. Whose grease hath molt all caffed as it was.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 108. To heat and chaufe any part of the bodie.
1657. S. Purchas, Pol. Flying-Ins., 331. Waxe when it is chafed will take an impression.
1672. Marvell, Reh. Transp., I. 86. It cannot be any vulgar furnace that hath chafed so cool a Salamander.
† 2. fig. To inflame (the feelings), excite, warm, heat. Obs.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 128. Þat he wolde … cherisch hem alle with his cher, & chaufen her Ioye.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XV. 68. Leste cheste chaufe ous so and choppe ech man oþere.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour (1868), 174. The goddesse of loue whiche kyndeleth and chauffeth the amerous hertes.
c. 1500. Melusine (1888), 22. Raymondyn, whiche was chaffed, doubted not of hys lyf.
1553. Brende, Q. Curtius, U vij. When he was chafed with drinking.
1682. Bunyan, Holy War, 81. Their continuing in rebellion did but chafe and heat the spirit of the Captains.
1691. Hartcliffe, Virtues, 79. The use now made of it [Dancing] … serves only to chaff the Blood.
1716. Horneck, Crucif. Jesus, 9. The Heart must be prepared, the Soul chafed, the Affections warmed.
3. To rub with the hand; esp. to rub (a person’s limbs, etc.) in order to restore warmth or sensation.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 68. Chafyn or rubbyn, frico.
1551. T. Wilson, Logike, 10. Waxe chaufed with the handes is made softer.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xxxiv. (1887), 122. The vse of chafing, and rubbing the body.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe (1840), I. xvi. 284. He took his arms … and chafed and rubbed them with his hands.
1842. Tennyson, Morte d’Arth., 211. She … laid his head upon her lap … and chafed his hands.
1877. Bryant, Lit. People of Snow, 290. They lifted the dear child, And bore her home, and chafed her tender limbs.
absol. 1742. Fielding, J. Andrews, II. v. She fell to chafing more violently.
1879. Browning, Ivan Iv., 54. Chafe away, keep chafing, for she moans: She’s coming to!
4. To rub so as to abrade or injure the surface; to fret, gall.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 256. All his ioyntes were … losed … his body so chafed.
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, IV. 535. With their [ants’] travaile chafed is eche pathe.
1602. Vestry Bks. (Surtees), 136. Wiche old book was frett and chafed.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., s.v., Seamen say … The Cable is chafed in the Hawse, when it is fretted or begun to be worn out there.
1787. ‘G. Gambado,’ Acad. Horsem. (1809), 31. The flap of your saddle … chafing you between the confines of the boot and breeches.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., II. xxvi. 264. All the boats were badly chafed.
1861. Flor. Nightingale, Nursing, 92. How easily its tender skin gets chafed.
b. With some mixture of sense 10 (to rage, fume).
1813. Scott, Rokeby, II. vii. He … May view [the torrent] chafe her waves to spray, O’er every rock.
5. fig. To heat or ruffle in temper; to vex, irritate.
a. 1400[?]. Arthur, 95. Arthour was chafed & wexed wrothe.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of A., I. xxiv. 75. To theym that be fyrst chaffed and angry. Ibid. (1490), Eneydos, xxvii. 97. Whan the see was well chaffed and … ayenst them sore moeued.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., II. i. 243. I chafe you if I tarrie. Let me go.
1611. Bible, 2 Sam. xvii. 8. They be chafed in their minds, as a beare robbed of her whelps in the field.
1635. N. R., trans. Camden’s Hist. Eliz., I. 73. Being frustrate of his hope, and sore chafed in minde.
1813. Hogg, Queen’s Wake, 313. The youth was chaffed, and with disdain Refused to touch his harp again.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, lix. 267. To chafe and vex me is a part of her nature.
† 6. To scold. Obs.
c. 1485. E. E. Misc. (1855), 11. For his hyre he doth me chawfe.
1549. Latimer, Serm. bef. Edw. VI., vii. (Arb.), 197. We wyll … chyde, braule, fume, chaufe, and backbite them.
1637. Gillespie, Eng.-Pop. Cerem., III. vi. 104. The Parret … being beaten and chaffed, returneth to its owne naturall voice.
c. 1677. Temple, in Courtenay, Mem. (1836), I. 499. The King … chafing us for spending him so much money, and doing nothing.
b. slang. (See quot.; an ironical use of 1 or 3 or other prec. sense: cf. ANOINT.)
1673. R. Head, Canting Acad., 36.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Chaft, well beaten or bang’d.
II. Intransitive senses.
† 7. To become warm or hot. Obs.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XVIII. 49. Then grace sholde growe And charite, þat child is now sholde chaufen of him-self.
c. 1450. Merlin, 283. The day be-gan to chauffe, and the sonne was risen right high.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. ciii. [xcix.] 301. The dayes chafed meruaylously, for it was aboute mydsomer.
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 407. He so chaufeth and moyleth in sturryng the coales.
† 8. ? To spoil by heating, to undergo decomposition (? by heating or rubbing). Obs.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 2301. They bussche[d] and bawmede þaire honourliche kynges, Sewed theme in sendelle sexti faulde aftire, Lappede them in lede, lesse that they schulde Chawnge or chawffe.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, I. xcv. (1634), 169. Then laid them in chests of lead, because they should not chafe nor savour.
9. To rub; to press or strike with friction (on, upon, against). (Often with mixture of other notions: cf. 10 c.)
1605. Shaks., Lear, IV. vi. 21. The murmuring Surge, That on th’ vnnumbred idle Pebble chafes.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., s.v., Seamen say, a Rope chafes, when it galls or frets, by rubbing against any rough and hard thing.
1805. Scott, Last Minstrel, I. xii. Is it the roar of Teviot’s tide, That chafes against the scaur’s red side?
1855. Maury, Phys. Geog. Sea, xiv. § 599. If the currents chafe upon it.
1861. Holland, Less. Life, xiii. 178. As a caged bear chafes … against the walls of his cell.
10. fig. To wax warm (in temper); to be angry, to rage; now usually, to display irritation of temper and impatience of restraint or obstacles, by fuming, fretting, and worrying oneself or others.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. cxxiii. [cxix.] 348. If ye fynde hym harde and highe of wordes, chafe not with hym, treate hym swetely.
1535. Joye, Apol. Tindale, 32. The man began to fume and chaafe.
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 26 b. Though you … chaufe and fume never so much agaynst him.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, Church-Porch, liii. Calmnesse is great advantage: he that lets Another chafe, may warm him at his fire: Mark all his wandrings, and enjoy his frets.
1760. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, II. 93. I never chaff, but take the good and the bad as they fall in my road.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, I. 172. Let the loser chafe.
1837. Ht. Martineau, Soc. Amer., II. 78. The wilder adventurers … had chafed at his advice.
1843. Prescott, Mexico, VII. i. (1864), 416. While the exasperated prelate was chafing under this affront.
1864. Atkinson, Whitby Gloss., Chaff, to chafe or chaffer, to quarrel. ‘They chaff’d at teean t’other varry sairly.’
1879. Froude, Cæsar, xv. 246. The aristocratic party could but chafe in impotent rage.
b. with complement.
a. 1561. G. Cavendish, Wolsey (1825), I. 220. He had an occasion greatly to chafe or fret the heart out of his belly.
c. Of the sea, etc.: To fret, rage or fume. (Sometimes with a tinge of sense 9.)
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., III. iii. 89. I would you did but see how it chafes, how it rages, how it takes vp the shore.
1822. Procter (B. Cornwall), Flood of Thess., I. 477. The great sea chafes And the wild horses of the Atlantic shake Their sounding manes.
1840. Thirlwall, Greece, VII. liv. 35. Their conflicting waters roared and chafed in eddies and waves.
1840. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, lxiii. Chafing like an angry sea, the crowd pressed after them.
