| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| chafe |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  ch f |
| VERB: | Inflected forms: chafed, chaf·ing, chafes
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To wear away or irritate by rubbing. 2. To annoy; vex. 3. To warm by rubbing, as with the hands. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To rub and cause irritation or friction: The high collar chafed against my neck. 2. To become worn or sore from rubbing. 3. To feel irritated or impatient: chafed at the delay. | | NOUN: | 1. Warmth, wear, or soreness produced by friction. 2. Annoyance; vexation. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English chafen, from Old French chaufer, to warm, from Vulgar Latin *calefre, alteration of Latin calefacere : cal re, to be warm; see kel -1 in Appendix I + facere, to make; see dh- in Appendix I. | | SYNONYMS: | chafe, abrade, excoriate, fret1, gall2 These verbs mean to wear down or rub away a surface by or as if by scraping: chafed my skin; water abrading the canyon walls; metal bristles that excoriated her scalp; rope that fretted a groove in the post; stone steps galled by years of heavy use.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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