chaff

Noun

  1. material consisting of seed coverings and small pieces of stem or leaves that have been separated from the seeds
  2. foil in thin strips; ejected into the air as a radar countermeasure

Verb

  1. be silly or tease one another; “After we relaxed, we just kidded around”
  1. the husks of corn or other seed separated by winnowing or threshing.

chopped hay and straw used as fodder.

worthless things; trash.

Air Force strips of metal foil or metal filings released in the atmosphere from aircraft, or deployed as missiles, to obstruct radar detection or confuse radar-tracking missiles.

Verb

Noun

  1. lighthearted joking; banter we used to come in for a fair amount of ribbing and good-natured chaff

Verb

  1. tease.

Origin

Old English cæf, ceaf, probably from a Germanic base meaning ‘gnaw’; related to Dutch kaf, also to chafer

early 19th century: perhaps from chafe

##Phrases

separate the wheat from the chaff

Wikipedia

Chaff (; also UK: ) is the dry, scaly protective casing of the seeds of cereal grains or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material (such as scaly parts of flowers or finely chopped straw). Chaff is indigestible by humans, but livestock can eat it. In agriculture it is used as livestock fodder, or is a waste material ploughed into the soil or burned.

Thesaurus

Noun

  1. a machine that separated the chaff from the grain

Similar Words: husks hulls bran pods seed cases shells capsules sheaths shucks

  1. the proposals were characterized as so much chaff

Similar Words: refuse waste garbage litter discarded matter debris detritus scrap dross flotsam and jetsam lumber sweepings leavings leftovers remains scraps dregs offscourings odds and ends muck rubbish trash mullock dreck junk grot gash debitage draff raff raffle cultch orts

Noun

  1. we used to come in for a fair amount of good-natured chaff

Similar Words: banter repartee raillery ripostes sallies quips wisecracks crosstalk wordplay teasing ragging badinage witty conversation witty remarks witticism witticisms joking jesting jocularity drollery bons mots kidding kidology ribbing joshing wisecracking persiflage

Verb

  1. the pleasures of drinking and betting and chaffing your mates

Similar Words: tease make fun of poke fun at rag mock laugh at guy deride ridicule scoff at jeer at jibe at taunt bait goad pick on take the mickey out of send up rib josh kid wind up have on pull someone's leg make a monkey out of goof on rag on put on pull someone's chain razz fun shuck poke mullock at poke borak at sling off at chiack take the piss out of make sport of twit quiz smoke flout at rally