▪ I. chaft Obs. exc. north. dial.
(tʃɑːft, -æ-)
In 5 schaft, 9 dial. chaff.
[a. ON. *kjǫft- (in Icel. kjǫptr, kjaptr, Sw. käft (pronounced chäft) jaw, Da. kieft (chops), answering to a Gothic type *kiftus, OTeut. *keftu-z, possibly from a stem *kef- *kaf- ‘to make a chewing movement with the under jaw’, whence also OE. ceafl, ME. chavel jowl, and various cognate words in Ger. and Du.]
1. The jaw, chap; usually in pl. (Chiefly north., and since 17th c. only dial.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 7510 (Cott.) A bere, a leon, bath i mete..And scok þam be þe berdes sua Þat i þair chafftes [other MSS. chauelis, chaulis, chaules] raue in tua. c 1420 Anturs Arth. xi, Off the schaft & the shol shaturt to the shin. 1483 Cath. Angl. 57 A Chafte, maxilla. 1535 Coverdale Job xxix. 17, I brake the chaftes of y⊇ vnrighteous. Ibid. xl. 12 Canst thou..bore his chaftes thorow with an aule? 1558 Q. Kennedy Compend. Tract. in Misc. Wodr. Soc. (1844) 160 To cry out with oppin chaftes. 1597 Lowe Chirurg. (1634) 195 Debility of the nerves which moveth the chaftes. 1686 G. Stuart Joco-Ser. Disc. 64 As slyly as thy fause chafts waggs. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. x, ‘Like to gaunt our chafts aff.’ 1864 Atkinson Whitby Gloss., Chafts or Chaffs, the jaws. ‘Chaffs tied up’, dead. 1875 Lanc. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Chaffs (N. Lanc.), Chuffs (S. Lanc.), jaw bones. |
2. Comb., as chaft-blade, chaft-bone; chaft-fallen adj.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 1073 Wit þe chafte ban of a ded has..slan he was. 1535 Coverdale Ps. lvii[i]. 6 Smyte the chaft bones of the lyons whelpes. 1597 Lowe Chirurg. (1634) 140 Underneath the chaftbone. 1863 Atkinson Danby Provinc., N. Riding Yorksh., Chaff-bone, the jaw-bone. |
▪ II. chaft(e
obs. form of shaft: obs. pa. tense and pple. of chafe v.