chafe
/t͡ʃeɪf/ noun, verb
- noun Heat excited by friction.
- noun Injury or wear caused by friction.
- noun (archaic, countable, uncountable) Vexation; irritation of mind; rage.
- verb (transitive) To excite heat in by friction; to rub in order to stimulate and make warm.
- verb (transitive, figurative) To excite passion or anger in; to fret; to irritate.
- verb (transitive) To fret and wear by rubbing. “to chafe a cable”
- verb (intransitive) To rub; to come together so as to wear by rubbing; to wear by friction.
- verb (intransitive) To be worn by rubbing. “A cable chafes.”
- verb (intransitive, figurative) To have a feeling of vexation; to be vexed; to fret; to be irritated.
Synonyms
annoyance vexation gall fret annoy rag get to bother get at irritate rile nark nettle gravel vex devil excoriate rub fray scratch
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English chaufen (“to warm”), borrowed from Old French chaufer (modern French chauffer), from Latin calefacere, calfacere (“to make warm”), from calere (“to be warm”) + facere (“to make”). See caldron.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To ecxite heat in by friction; to rub in order to stimulate and make warm.
- verb To excite passion or anger in; to fret; to irritate.
- verb To rub; to come together so as to wear by rubbing; to wear by friction.
- verb To be worn by rubbing; as, a cable chafes.
Etymology [OE. chaufen to warm, OF. chaufer, F. chauffer, fr. L. calefacere, calfacere, to make warm; calere to be warm + facere to make. See Caldron.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “chafe”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details