<B>chaff</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the stiff, strawlike bits around the grains of wheat, oats, or rye. Chaff is separated from grain by threshing. <DD><B> 2. </B>hay or straw cut fine for feeding cattle. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) worthless stuff; rubbish. <BR> <I>Ex. The neighbors' suspicions were chaff of the lowest sort based on gossip and guesswork.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Botany.) the thin, dry scales or bracts at the base of the florets in the flower heads of many plants. <DD><B> 5. </B>metal foil dropped by aircraft to confuse enemy radar; window. </DL>
<A NAME="chaff">
<B>chaff</B> (2), verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) <DD><I>v.t., v.i. </I> to make fun of in a good-natured way to one's face; banter. <BR> <I>Ex. The boys chaffed the French boy about his mistakes in speaking English.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> good-natured joking about a person to his face; banter. <BR> <I>Ex. The French boy did not mind their chaff.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chaffer">
<B>chaffer</B> (1), noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a disputing about a price; bargaining. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to dispute about terms or price; bargain. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to deal; discuss terms; bandy or exchange words. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to buy and sell; traffic in; exchange; barter. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to exchange or bandy (words). noun <B>chafferer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="chaffer">
<B>chaffer</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) a person who jokes lightly or banters. </DL>
<A NAME="chaffinch">
<B>chaffinch, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a European songbird with a pleasant, short song, often kept as a cage bird. The chaffinch has bright, barred wings. </DL>
<A NAME="chaffweed">
<B>chaffweed, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a low herb of the primrose family. </DL>
<A NAME="chaffy">
<B>chaffy, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>full of chaff. <DD><B> 2. </B>consisting of chaff. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) like chaff; worthless. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Botany.) paleaceous. </DL>
<A NAME="chafingdish">
<B>chafing dish,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a pan with a heater under it, used to cook food at the table or to keep it warm. It usually consists of two pans in a frame over a small alcohol lamp or the like. The upper pan is covered and fits into the lower, in which hot water is put. <DD><B> 2. </B>a vessel to hold burning charcoal or other fuel, for heating anything placed upon it; a portable grate. </DL>
<A NAME="chaft">
<B>chaft, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Scottish and Northern English Dialect.) the jaw. <BR><I>expr. <B>chafts,</B> </I>the chaps. <BR> <I>Ex. ... to cry out with open chafts (Quintin Kennedy).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chaga">
<B>Chaga, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ga</B> or <B>-gas.</B> <B>=Chagga.</B></DL>
<A NAME="chagasdisease">
<B>Chagas' disease,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a form of trypanosomiasis, occurring in South America. <BR> <I>Ex. The Triatomas, close relatives of the assassin bugs, spread the trypanosome of Chagas' disease, a serious affliction of man in South America (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chagga">
<B>Chagga, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ga</B> or <B>-gas.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a member of an African tribe in Tanzania inhabiting the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. The Chagga are a tall, agricultural people that produce coffee and cotton forexport. <DD><B> 2. </B>their Bantu language. </DL>
<A NAME="chagrin">
<B>chagrin, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a feeling of disappointment, failure, or humiliation. <BR> <I>Ex. He felt chagrin because he did not pass the test. The impetuous sovereign found, to her chagrin, that there might be disadvantages in being the declared enemy of one of the two great parties in the State (Lytton Strachey).</I> (SYN) mortification, vexation. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to cause to feel chagrin. <BR> <I>Ex. He was chagrined by his failure.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chain">
<B>chain, </B>noun, verb, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a row of links joined together. <BR> <I>Ex. an anchor chain, armor made of chain. The dog is fastened to a post by a chain. After a few moments, the Mayor, splendid in full mayoral robes and chain, came out behind them (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a series of things linked together. <BR> <I>Ex. a chain of mountains; (Figurative.) a chain of events.</I> (SYN) sequence, succession, progression. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) anything that binds or restrains. <BR> <I>Ex. the chains of duty, the chains of love.</I> (SYN) bond, shackle. <DD><B> 4a. </B>a measuring instrument like a chain. A surveyor's chain is 66 feet long; an engineer's chain is 100 feet long. <DD><B> b. </B>the length of either of these chains, as a linear unit. <DD><B> 5. </B>a number of similar stores, hotels, restaurants, theaters, etc., owned and operated by one person or company. <BR> <I>Ex. In many cities, independent luxury markets are the source of the best steak; they don't advertise like the chains, however, and seldom publicly proclaim the astronomical price of the best steak (Harper's).</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>a number of atoms of the same element linked together like a chain, usually within an organic molecule. <BR> <I>Ex. a carbon chain.</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>(Biology.) a group of organisms, such as bacteria, connected end to end. <DD><B> 8. </B><B>=chain shot.</B> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to join together with a chain; fasten with a chain. <BR> <I>Ex. The dog was chained to a post. The Bible was chained to the reading desk.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to bind; restrain; fetter. <BR> <I>Ex. to chain enthusiasm with common sense. Work chained him to his desk.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to keep in prison; make a slave of. <DD><B> 4. </B>to restrain with chains; fetter. <DD><B> 5. </B>to measure with a chain. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to unite or be linked in a chain. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>of or like chains. <DD><B> 2. </B>of the nature of chain mail. <BR><I>expr. <B>chains,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>bonds; fetters. </I> <I>Ex. The rebels were brought back in chains.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>imprisonment or bondage. <BR> <I>Ex. The dictator's enemies had spent many years in chains. Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains (Jean Jacques Rousseau).</I> adj. <B>chainless.</B> adj. <B>chainlike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="chainbelt">
<B>chainbelt, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a belt made with interlinked metal rings. </DL>
<A NAME="chainbreak">
<B>chainbreak, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a commercial or other announcement made during a pause in a network radio or television program or during a station break. </DL>
<A NAME="chainbridge">
<B>chain bridge,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a suspension bridge supported by chains. </DL>
<A NAME="chaincoupling">
<B>chain coupling,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an additional coupling for extra safety on railroad freight cars. </DL>
<A NAME="chaindrive">
<B>chain drive,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a mechanism for transmitting power by means of a chain gear. <DD><B> 2. </B>the system using this mechanism. </DL>
<A NAME="chaindriven">
<B>chain-driven, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> driven by means of chain gears. </DL>
<A NAME="chaine">
<B>chaine, </B>noun, pl. <B>-nes.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Ballet.) a series of quick turns from one foot to the other, made in moving across the stage. </DL>
<A NAME="chainfern">
<B>chain fern,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a large fern found in the northern hemisphere that bears rows of sori like chains. </DL>
<A NAME="chaingang">
<B>chain gang,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) a gang of convicts, or the like, chained together while at work outdoors or on their way to work. <BR> <I>Ex. traditional and less familiar songs based on chain gang, jailhouse, church, backyard, and cemetery (Saturday Review).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chaingear">
<B>chain gear,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a gear for transmitting motion by means of an endless chain, especially one in which the chain transmits motion from one sprocket wheel to another. </DL>
<A NAME="chainhoist">
<B>chainhoist, </B>noun,<DL COMPACT><DD> a block and tackle which uses chain instead of rope. </DL>
<A NAME="chainlet">
<B>chainlet, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a little chain. <BR> <I>Ex. Spurs, and ringing chainlets, sound (Scott).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chainletter">
<B>chain letter,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a letter which each person receiving is asked to copy and send to several others. <BR> <I>Ex. With whispers and chain letters they spread the word (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chainlightning">
<B>chain lightning,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>lightning visible in wavy, zig-zag, or broken lines. <BR> <I>Ex. I'm goin' there like a streak of chain lightning (Seba Smith).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S. Dialect or Slang.) inferior whiskey. <BR> <I>Ex. The worst of lickers ... is called chain lightning, from its terrible ... stunning effect (Schele De Vere).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chainlinkfence">
<B>chain link fence,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a fence of heavy steel wire woven into a lattice and supported by steel posts. </DL>
<A NAME="chainlock">
<B>chain lock,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a chain attached to a lock, used to fasten a bicycle. <BR> <I>Ex. To thwart them [thieves], careful cyclists favor three chain locks--one locking each wheel to the frame, the third locking the frame to a stout signpost or tree (Time).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a chain used to fasten a door to the jamb from the inside, so that it may be opened only a few inches. <BR> <I>Ex. I heard her slide the chain lock off and then the door opened (Louise Meriwether).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chainlocker">
<B>chain locker,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a forward compartment below in a ship, where the anchor chains are stored. </DL>
<A NAME="chainloom">
<B>chain loom,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a loom in which patterns upon a chain control the harnesses, as distinguished from one governed by cams or by a jacquard attachment. </DL>
<A NAME="chainmail">
<B>chain mail,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a kind of flexible armor used in the Middle Ages, made of metal rings linked together; mail. <BR> <I>Ex. Without pay, too, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, for many knights to bear the rapidly rising cost of armor in this period [the Renaissance] when heavy plate was beginning to replace the simpler chain mail of the crusading era (Wallace Ferguson).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chainman">
<B>chainman, </B>noun, pl. <B>-men.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the man who carries the chain in surveying. <BR> <I>Ex. Kim ... was to be diligent and enter the Survey of India as a chainman (Rudyard Kipling).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="chainmeasure">
<B>chain measure,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a system of measurement used by surveyors: <DL COMPACT><DD> 7.92 inches = 1 link <DL COMPACT><DD> 100 links in a chain or 66 ft. = 1 chain <DL COMPACT><DD> 10 chains = 1 furlong <DL COMPACT><DD> 80 chains = 1 mile </DL>
