Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A cook, especially the chief cook of a large kitchen staff.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An obsolete form of chief.
- n. A head or chief; specifically, a head cook, etc.
- n. A reliquary in the shape of a human head with or without the shoulders, either standing alone or placed upon a substructure or base, formerly made to receive the whole or a portion of the head of a Saint or martyr. Chefs were commonly made of metal, as copper, fashioned by the repoussé process, gilded, chased, and otherwise ornamented; but they were sometimes carved in wood and covered with thin plates of silver or gold. See cut in next column.
Wiktionary
- n. The head cook of an establishment such as a restaurant, club, or wealthy family.
- n. Same as chief.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A chief or head person.
- n. The head cook of large establishment, as a club, a family, etc.
- n. Same as Chief.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a professional cook
Etymologies
- French, short for chef de cuisine, head of the kitchen; see chief.
Examples
“In these modern times, the word "chef" has taken on a lot of meanings.”
The Wall Street Journal: José Andrés Wants to Feed the World (And You)
“Also, if the chef is a master, the roll would have been prepared with the size of my mouth taken into account.”
“The 5-foot-11, 180-pound western Pennsylvania chef is the first person to eat a monstrosity called the Beer Barrel Belly Bruiser: a 15-pound burger with toppings and a bun that brought the total weight to 20.2 pounds.”
Pennsylvania Man Chews Through Belly-Busting, 15-lb. Burger | Disinformation
“April 10th, 2007 at 11: 15 pm hey those pict are SWEET, but u need to make it a bit real, example like your 1st piece, the chef is a bit cartoonish, try to draw something a bit real especially the human face.”
“In this post, I would like to share with you the reasons why I love the French word chef-d'œuvre (= masterpiece).”
“The chef from the Downtown Korean BBQ cart that Daniel wrote about on Friday commented yesterday morning to let us know that the Happy Well Being House cart (on 50th and 6th) is run by his mom!”
Happy Well Being House is Related to Downtown Korean BBQ Cart | Midtown Lunch: Downtown NYC
“Yet, I find myself preferring French food in a restaurant where the chef is named Jacques or Pierre or whatever and pasta joints where the chef is named Marco or Silvio.”
“That's where the chef is previewing miniature versions of Jack Rose's sandwiches (Wednesdays) and appetizers (Thursdays).”
“This great restaurant with an innovative and highly talented chef is named Tabarka.”
“Streep's turn as the sprightly TV chef is not only a wondrous impersonation but an intelligent and respectful portrayal.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘chef’.
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Programming Languages
The last time someone tried this theme, it was a closed list with only two words; time to make amends. Scripting languages, etc. are also fair game...
c, c++, java, pascal, delphi, python, perl, lisp, algol, cobol, ada, apl and 121 more...
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Food words
molecular gastronomy, gastronomic, chef, sous-chef, pastry, patisserie, bakery, mandoline, champagne flute, chinois, dough, knead and 15 more...
madmouth I love the implication, in the definition "someone who cooks food", that there are lots of other things to cook.
the French literally means 'boss' (akin to 'chief'), which is how it's used in SBC (spelled šef).
I believe there is a similar aesthetic sensibility (and conceptual system) to the French and Japanese. in Japanese, the chef in the kitchen is also 'boss': taisho. Jul 12, 2009