colloq. [Of this and the related CHAFF v.2, the origin is not quite certain: if the sb. is earlier, it may be a fig. use of prec. (cf. senses 5, 6 there); if the vb. is the starting point, it may be a playful or light use of chaff, CHAFE v., senses 5 and 6 of which come very near to it.]
Banter, light and good-humored raillery, or ridicule, calculated to try the temper of the person to whom it is addressed; badinage. (App. of slang origin, and still somewhat vulgar.)
(The first quot. is uncertainly placed: it may mean ‘scolding’: cf. CHAFE v. 6.)
[1648. Jenkyn, Blind Guide, iv. 76. You pretend to nothing but chaffe and scoffes.]
1840. Dickens, Barn. Rudge (C. D. ed.), 42. ‘I do,’ said the ‘prentice. ‘Honour bright. No chaff, you know.’
1854. Thackeray, Newcomes, I. 286. There’s enough of this chaff. I have been called names and black-guarded quite sufficiently for one sitting.
1858. Sat. Rev., 7 Aug., 127/2. Chaff, as the vulgar call it, when it is real good chaff, is an element in statecraft.
1885. Manch. Even. News, 6 July, 2/2. They got through a few overs in the morning amidst the chaff of a good-natured crowd.
