Skip to definition.
Get the FREE one-click dictionary software for Windows or the iPhone/iPad and Android apps


Verb: chafe  cheyf
  1. Become or make sore by or as if by rubbing
    - gall, fret
     
  2. Feel extreme irritation or anger
    "He was chafing at her suggestion that he stay at home while she went on a vacation"
     
  3. Cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
    "Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear really chafes me";
    - annoy, rag, get to, bother, get at [informal], irritate, rile, nark [Brit, slang], nettle, gravel [US], vex, devil, tick off [informal], roil [N. Amer]
     
  4. Tear or wear off the skin or make sore by abrading
    "This leash chafes the dog's neck";
    - excoriate
     
  5. Cause friction
    "my sweater chafes";
    - rub, fray, fret, scratch
     
  6. Warm by rubbing, as with the hands
Noun: chafe  cheyf
  1. Soreness and warmth caused by friction
    "he had a nasty chafe on his knee"
     
  2. Anger produced by some annoying irritation
    - annoyance, vexation

Derived forms: chafing, chafed, chafes

Type of: abrade, abrase, adjoin, anger, choler, contact, corrade, displease, experience, feel, ire, irritate, meet, rawness, rub down, rub off, soreness, tenderness, touch, warm

Encyclopedia: Chafe, Paul