chaff
pronunciation
How to pronounce chaff in British English:
UK [tʃɑ:f]
How to pronounce chaff in American English:
US [tʃæf]
-
- Noun:
- material consisting of seed coverings and small pieces of stem or leaves that have been separated from the seeds
- foil in thin strips; ejected into the air as a radar countermeasure
-
- Verb:
- be silly or tease one another
Word Origin
- chaff (n.)
- "husks," Old English ceaf "chaff," probably from Proto-Germanic *kaf- "to gnaw, chew" (cognates: Middle Dutch and Dutch kaf, German Kaff), from PIE root *gep(h)- "jaw, mouth" (see jowl (n.1)). Used figuratively for "worthless material" from late 14c.
Example
- 1. Anthologize can 't separate the wheat from the chaff , but it can bring the best to us .
- 2. The other day I talked about the word garble and explained that at first it was used to mean to sort the wheat from the chaff .
- 3. Mr jobs had an uncanny knack of winnowing out the wheat from the mountains of chaff .
- 4. That has helped sort the wheat from the chaff : on january 11th bbc wales produced the first league table for a decade using the banding data . Mr andrews wants to extend the exercise to primary schools in the coming months .