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  1. chafe love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To wear away or irritate by rubbing.
  2. v. To annoy; vex.
  3. v. To warm by rubbing, as with the hands.
  4. v. To rub and cause irritation or friction: The high collar chafed against my neck.
  5. v. To become worn or sore from rubbing.
  6. v. To feel irritated or impatient: chafed at the delay.
  7. n. Warmth, wear, or soreness produced by friction.
  8. n. Annoyance; vexation.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To heat; make warm.
  2. To excite heat in or make warm by friction; stimulate to warmth by rubbing, as with the hands: as, to chafe the limbs.
  3. To fret and wear by friction; abrade; especially, abrade (the skin) by rubbing; make sore by rubbing; gall: as, the coarse garments chafed his skin.
  4. To irritate; annoy; vex; gall; make angry.
  5. To stimulate, as by pungent odors; perfume. [Rare.]
  6. To animate; revive; inspirit; encourage.
  7. Synonyms 3. To rub, wear.
  8. To gall, vex, irritate, heat, ruffle, exasperate.
  9. To be or become heated.
  10. To be fretted and worn by rubbing: as, the cable chafed against a rock.
  11. To be irritated or annoyed; fret; fume.
  12. To be in violent agitation; rage or boil; dash, as in anger; fret.
  13. n. Heat excited by friction.
  14. n. An irritated mental condition arising from continued provocation or annoyance; heated impatience or anger, especially under restraint or a sense of injury; a fretful tendency or state; vexation.

Wiktionary

  1. n. Heat excited by friction.
  2. n. Injury or wear caused by friction.
  3. n. Vexation; irritation of mind; rage.
  4. v. transitive To excite heat in by friction; to rub in order to stimulate and make warm.
  5. v. transitive To excite passion or anger in; to fret; to irritate.
  6. v. transitive To fret and wear by rubbing; as, to chafe a cable.
  7. v. intransitive To rub; to come together so as to wear by rubbing; to wear by friction.
  8. v. intransitive To be worn by rubbing; as, a cable chafes.
  9. v. intransitive To have a feeling of vexation; to be vexed; to fret; to be irritated.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To excite heat in by friction; to rub in order to stimulate and make warm.
  2. v. To excite passion or anger in; to fret; to irritate.
  3. v. To fret and wear by rubbing.
  4. v. To rub; to come together so as to wear by rubbing; to wear by friction.
  5. v. To be worn by rubbing.
  6. v. To have a feeling of vexation; to be vexed; to fret; to be irritated.
  7. n. Heat excited by friction.
  8. n. Injury or wear caused by friction.
  9. n. Vexation; irritation of mind; rage.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
  2. n. anger produced by some annoying irritation
  3. v. cause friction
  4. v. warm by rubbing, as with the hands
  5. v. become or make sore by or as if by rubbing
  6. v. tear or wear off the skin or make sore by abrading
  7. v. feel extreme irritation or anger
  8. n. soreness and warmth caused by friction

Etymologies

  1. Middle English chaufen ("to warm"), from Old French chaufer (modern French chauffer), from Latin calefacere, calfacere ("to make warm"), from calere ("to be warm") + facere ("to make"). See caldron. (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English chafen, from Old French chaufer, to warm, from Vulgar Latin *calefāre, alteration of Latin calefacere : calēre, to be warm; see kelə-1 in Indo-European roots + facere, to make; see dhē- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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Lists

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Comments

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  • chained_bear Horking really chafes my ass. Jul 31, 2008

  • dontcry "Hard cheese" *snort* Jul 31, 2008

  • john No worries Skip, it was just a typo. A missing >, I think. Jul 30, 2008

  • skipvia Hard cheese for a web designer, placing borked code on a public site.

    *contemplating moving to another line of work* Jul 30, 2008

  • skipvia Bork away, John. I didn't catch the error before it appeared. What was the issue? Jul 30, 2008

  • chained_bear Borked stuff really chafes my ass. Jul 30, 2008

  • john Skip, hope you don't mind, I deborked it. Jul 30, 2008

  • yarb The html in the link is borked. Jul 30, 2008

  • chained_bear (psst... skipvia, I think you're missing some words in your comment that, oddly, appear on the front page.) Jul 30, 2008

  • skipvia C_B's comment reminded me of the Sheriff of Rottingham's immortal line in Robin Hood; Men in Tights, when, on encountering Marian's chastity belt, he exclaims, "That's really going to chafe my willie." Jul 30, 2008

  • chained_bear Uhh... okay. *wonders what to do with it* Jul 30, 2008

  • bilby Here, have a cockchafer. Jul 30, 2008

  • chained_bear Yeah, onegoodbee! It really chafes my ass! Jul 30, 2008

  • sionnach Mostly, yes. But not always. Sometimes one can find delicious tasty morsels in a chafing dish. Jul 30, 2008

  • onegoodbee oh this is a horrible word! Jul 30, 2008

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‘chafe’ has been looked up 3781 times, loved by 3 people, added to 52 lists, commented on 15 times, and has a Scrabble score of 13.