chafe
Plural: chafes
Noun
- soreness and warmth caused by friction
- "he had a nasty chafe on his knee"
- anger produced by some annoying irritation
- Heat excited by friction.
- Injury or wear caused by friction.
- Vexation; irritation of mind; rage.
Verb
Verb Forms: chafed, chafing, chafes
- To make sore by rubbing; to irritate or annoy.
- become or make sore by or as if by rubbing
- feel extreme irritation or anger
- cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
- tear or wear off the skin or make sore by abrading
- "This leash chafes the dog's neck"
- cause friction
- warm by rubbing, as with the hands
- To excite heat in by friction; to rub in order to stimulate and make warm.
- To excite passion or anger in; to fret; to irritate.
- To fret and wear by rubbing.
- To rub; to come together so as to wear by rubbing; to wear by friction.
- To be worn by rubbing.
- To have a feeling of vexation; to be vexed; to fret; to be irritated.
Examples
- A cable chafes.
- It started to CHAFE me when my opponent kept drawing all the good tiles in Scrabble.
- to chafe a cable
Origin / Etymology
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.
Synonyms
annoy, annoyance, bother, devil, excoriate, fray, fret, gall, get at, get to, gravel, irritate, nark, nettle, rag, rile, rub, scratch, vex, vexation
Scrabble Score: 13
chafe: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordchafe: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
chafe: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary