Forms: 1 ceaf, cef, 2 chæf, 2–4 chef, (2, 4 cheue, 4 chaue), 4 cheff, 3–5, 7 chaf, 4–7 chaffe, 3–4, 6– chaff; north. 4 caf, 5 kaf, kaff, kafe, 6 caiff, 4–7 caffe, 5–9 caff. (Occasional 4 schaf, 5 shaffe.) [OE. ceaf, corresp. to MDu. caf (Du. kaf), MHG., MLG., dial. Ger. kaf neut., related to OHG. cheva husk, pod, and possibly to a Teut. root kef- gnaw: cf. CHAVEL, JOWL. The southern form in ME. was chef, the midland chaff; the northern caf, caff, still extant; in Scotl. also cauve. Commonly collective.]
1. A collective term for the husks of corn or other grain separated by threshing or winnowing.
α. form chef.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 148. Palea, ceaf.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke iii. 17. Þæt ceaf he forbærnþ.
c. 1160. Hatton G., ibid. Þæt chæf he forbernð.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 85. Þet smal chef þet flid ford mid þe winde. Ibid. Of þe smal cheue.
a. 1225. Juliana, 79. Þat dusti chef.
c. 1340. Ayenb., 210. Be-tuene þe cheue and þe corn [nom. passim chef].
β. form chaff.
c. 1200. Ormin, 1483. And siþþenn winndwesst tu þin corn, And fra þe chaff itt shædesst.
c. 1205. Lay., 29256. Þer biforen he gon ȝeoten draf and chaf and aten.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 4791 (Trin.). To fynde þe chaue Corn þere shul we fynde to haue. Ibid., 21113 (Fairf.). Quik þai haue his bodi flaine & waltered him in barli chaf.
c. 1394. P. Pl. Crede, 663. And so þei chewen charitie as chewen schaf houndes.
c. 1400. Ywaine & Gaw., 1684. Barly brede with al the chaf.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 134 b. As the flayle tryeth ye corne from the chaffe.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 985. Least on the threshing floore his hopeful sheaves Prove chaff.
1715–20. Pope, Iliad, V. 613. The light chaff, before the breezes borne.
a. 1811. J. Leyden, Ld. Soulis, lxii. The barley chaff to the sifted sand They added still by handfuls nine.
γ. form caf, caff.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4751 (Cott.). Þe caf he cast o corn sumquile In the flum þat hait þe nile.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter xxxiv. 21. Caf þat is light to fle wiþ þe wynd.
1483. Cath. Angl., 51. Caffe, acus, palea.
15[?]. Scot. Poems 16th C. (1801), 98 (Jam.). As … caffe before the wind.
1670. Ray, Proverbs, 285. Kings caff is worth other mens corn.
1826. J. Wilson, Noct. Ambr., Wks. 1855, I. 334. To sleep on caff.
1875. Lanc. Gloss. (E. D. S.), Caff (N. Lanc.), chaff, refuse.
1877. Holderness Gloss. (E. D. S.), Caff, chaff.
† b. A plural occurs in OE. and ME., e.g., to translate paleæ of the Vulgate. Obs.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. iii. 12. Þa ceafu [Lindisf. halmas; c. 1160 Hatton G. chefu] he forbærnð on unadwæscendlicum fyre.
1382. Wyclif, Matt. iii. 12. But chaffis he shal brenne with fyr unquenchable. Ibid., Ezek. xiii. 10. With outen chaffis [Vulg. absque paleis].
† 2. transf. The husks of pease and beans. Obs.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., IV. 110. Two basketfull of bene chaf.
1611. Cotgr., Faval, the chaffe, shalings, hullings, offals, or cleansing of Beanes.
3. Cut hay and straw used for feeding cattle. (It is doubtful whether the early instances of ‘chaff’ used in brick-making, etc., belong here. A chaff-cutting machine is described in Lewis, Hist. Thanet, 1736, Plate IV. p. 16, but not by this name, being called ‘a cutting box to cut horse’s meat in.’)
[c. 1000. Ælfric, Exod. v. 7. Ne sylle ʓe leng nan cef ðis Ebreiscan folc to tiʓel ʓeweorce.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2889. Hem-seluen he fetchden ðe chaf ðe men ðor hem to gode gaf.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. lxv. 25. The leoun and the oxe shuln ete chaf [1388 stree].
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 44/1. In my faders hows is place ynough to lodge the & thy camels & plente of chaf & heye for them.
c. 1535. Dewes, Introd. Fr., in Palsgr., 915. Litter or chaff, paille.]
1772. W. Bailey, Advancem. Arts (1783), I. 42. Mr. Edgill’s Machine for cutting chaff.
1834. Brit. Husb., I. viii. 212. If parsimoniously fed upon indifferent hay and straw, it then becomes necessary to cut it into chaff.
4. Bot. a. The thin dry leaves or bracts of the flower of grasses, esp. the inner pair now usually called pales or glumelles, distinct from the outer pair called glumes. b. The bracts at the base of the florets in Compositæ. (The plural is obs.)
1776. Withering, Bot. Arrangem. (1796), I. 195. Eryngium … florets sitting, separated by chaff. Ibid., III. 669. Hyoseris, Receptacle naked: Down hair-like; encompassed by awned chaff.
1794. Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xiii. 133. [Canary-grass] the chaffs being turgid and hairy. Ibid., 134. The keel of the chaffs is ciliate.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric., II. 406. In the blooming season, for wheat, there are three stamens, or male portions, thrown out beyond the chaff or calyx.
1880. Gray, Struct. Bot., v. 142. Palets, also called Chaff, are diminutive or chaff-like bracts or bractlets on the axis (or receptacle) and among the flowers of a dense inflorescence, such as a head of Compositæ … the name is also given to an inner series of the glumes of grasses.
5. In various fig. or allusive contexts, from sense 1. (Cf. Matt. iii. 12, etc.)
c. 1386. Chaucer, Man Lawes T., 603. Me lust not of the caf ne of the stree Make so long a tale, as of the corn.
1393. Gower, Conf., II. 59. It were a short beyete To winne chaffe and lese whete.
1535. Lyndesay, Satyre, 3531. Thy words war nather corne nor caiff.
1579. Gosson, Sch. Abuse (Arb.), 18. You may wel thinke that I sell my corne, and eate Chaffe.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., I. i. 117. His reasons are two graines of wheate hid in two bushels of chaffe: you shall seeke all day ere you finde them, & when you haue them they are not worth the search.
1732. Berkeley, Alciphr., vi. § 9. You may see here [Jer. xxiii. 28] a distinction made between wheat and chaff, true and spurious.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., vi. Vacant chaff well meant for grain.
1882. Athenæum, 5 Aug., 171/3. Though there is a little chaff there is also a good deal of wheat.
b. Proverb. An old bird is not caught with chaff; and allusions to it.
1481. Caxton, Reynard, 110. I am no byrde to be locked ne take by chaf, I know wel ynowh good corn.
c. 1600. Shaks., Timon, IV. ii. An olde birde is not caught with chaffe.
1665–9. Boyle, Occas. Refl., V. x. (1675), 336. The empty and Trifling Chaff, Youth is wont to be caught with.
1771. Smollett, Humph. Cl. (1793), I. 91 (L.). The Doctor being a shy cock, would not be caught with chaff.
1856. J. H. Newman, Callista (1885), 249. I am too old for chaff.
1873. Hale, In His Name, vi. 50/2. That ’s old chaff for such as we.
6. transf. and fig. Refuse, worthless matter.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 1064. Caffe of creatours alle, thow curssede wriche!
1555. Eden, Decades W. Ind., I. VIII. (Arb.), 96 (marg.). Perles as common as chaffe.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., II. ix. 48. How much honor Pickt from the chaffe and ruine of the times. Ibid. (1606), Tr. & Cr., I. ii. 262. Asses, fooles, dolts, chaffe and bran.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., I. ii. III. xv. Some poor scholler, some parson chaff.
1670. Dryden, Prol. Conq. Granada, 42. Wheel-broad hats, dull humour, all that chaff, Which makes you mourn, and makes the vulgar laugh.
1799. Wordsw., Poet’s Epit., iv. A soldier, and no man of chaff.
1842. Tennyson, Epic, 40. Twelve books of mine … Mere chaff and draff, much better burnt.
7. a. attrib. Of or resembling chaff.
1636. James, Iter Lanc., 112. Those chaffe sands which doe in mountains rize.
b. Comb., as chaff-bait, -biscuit, -bread, -heap, -house, -knife, -net, -room; chaff-bed, a ‘bed’ or mattress stuffed with chaff instead of feathers, etc.; chaff-cutter, one who cuts chaff; a machine for cutting hay and straw for fodder, also called chaff-engine; chaff-flower, a name for Alternanthera Achyrantha; chaff-seed, a name for Schwalbea americana. Also CHAFF-WEED.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. IV., xxxii. The Birds come in To his *Chaffe-baite.
1582. Inv. of R. Hodgson, Kendal (Somerset Ho.). A *Caffe bed.
1663. Inv. Ld. Gordon’s Furniture, Thair is in the bed, a caffe bed, a fethir bed, a pair blankets, and a red worset rug.
1683. Tryon, Way to Health, 592. Straw, or rather Chaff-Beds, with Ticks of Canvas.
1839. Dickens, Nich. Nick., xxii. Salt meat and new rum, pease-pudding and *chaff-biscuits.
1611. Cotgr., Pain de bale, *chaffe bread … the coursest kind of bread.
1772. W. Bailey, Advancem. Arts (1783), I. 192. A new invented *chaff cutter invented by Mr. Wm. Bailey.
1807. Vancouver, Agric. Devon (1813), 124. Chaff-cutters are used by Mr. Fellows and other gentlemen in the county.
1854. Illustr. Lond. News, 5 Aug., 118/3. Occupations of the People…. Chaffcutter.
1633. Bp. Hall, Hard Texts, 323. Since the house of Jacob is now as a little corne, left in a *chaffe-heape.
c. 1425. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 670. Hoc palare, *chaf-house.
1483. Cath. Angl., 51. A Caffe hows, paliare, paliarium.
1833. Manuf. Metal, ii. II. 55 (Cab. Cycl.). *Chaff-knife backs, and hay-knife backs.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 68. *Chaffenette to take byrdys, retiaculum.
1801. Strutt, Sports & Past., II. ii. (1810), 34.
1834. Brit. Husb., I. 99. Along the opposite side of the yard are the *chaff-room, various domestic offices, [etc.].
