▪ I. chaffer, n.1
(ˈtʃæfə(r))
Forms: 3 chaffere, 4 cheapfare, chapfare, -vare, 3–5 cheffare, 3–6 chaffare (chaffere, chafare, chefare), 4–7 chaffar, 4– chaffer. (Also 5 chafar, -ir, -yr, -ayre, chaffour, chaffur, chafre, caffer, 5–6 chaffre, 5–7 chafer, 6 chaffayre, 7 chaffaire.)
[In the Ayenbite (1340) cheapfare, chapfare:—OE. type *céapfaru, f. céap bargain, sale + faru faring, going; not recorded, but the cognate ON. kaupfǫr is extant in sense ‘trading journey’. Assimilation of pf to ff gave the general ME. types cheffare, chaffare; with the a in the latter, cf. OE. céapmǫnn, ME. chepmon and chapman, now chapman. Apparently the original n. became obs. in the 17th c., but has been formed anew from the vb., in sense 1 b.]
† 1. Traffic, trade; buying and selling, dealing. Obs. exc. as in b.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 418 None cheffare ne driue ȝe. c 1230 Hali Meid. 9 Weilawei!..hwuch unwurðe chaffere. c 1320 Sir Beues 2062 God ȝeue it..We hadde driue þat chefare. 1340 Ayenb. 36 Þe vifte manere [sc. of gauelinge] is ine cheapfare. Ibid. 45 Þe eȝtende boȝ of auarice is chapfare..Ine uele oþre maneres me may zeneȝi ine chapfares. 138. Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 50 Sum [wenten] after chaffare of þis worldely richesse. c 1450 Myrc 1299 Hast thow by⁓gylet in chafare? 1551–6 Robinson tr. More's Utop. 63 Money, wherewith to mayneteyne their dayly occupieng and chaffayre. 1613 R. C. Table Alph. (ed. 3), Chaffar, buying and selling. 1662 Fuller Worthies iii. 150 By sad chaffer, they were fain to give money for water. |
b. In modern use, chiefly from the vb.: Chaffering, bargaining, haggling as to price.
| 1851 Longfellow Gold. Leg. vi. Sch. Salerno, What do I care for the Doctor Seraphic, With all his wordy chaffer and traffic? 1870 Morris Earthly Par. I. ii. 589 The dark-eyed merchants of the southern seas In chaffer with the base Propœtides. 1878 H. M. Stanley Dark Cont. II. xvi. 431, I was unable to purchase anything more than a few ground-nuts, because it involved such serious controversy and chaffer as sickened the hungry stomach. |
† 2. That which is bought and sold; wares, merchandise, goods for barter or sale. Obs.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1951 Fro galaad men wið chafare Saȝ he ðor kumen wid spices ware. 1297 R. Glouc. 539 To late in tueie wolmongers, hor chaffare in to lede. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 174 Þer weore chapmen I-chose þe chaffare to preise. c 1440 Gesta Rom. 285 (Add. MS.), X. asses chargede with dyuerse chaffare. 1441 Plumpton Corr. Introd. 54 None of the Kings said tenants might, ne durst come att the towne of Ripon..to utter their caffer, wherewith to pay his farme. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (1531) 25 As a marchaunt sheweth his marchaundyse or chafer. c 1612 Rowlands Four Knaves (1843) 96 His good daies are when 's chaffer is well sold. a 1693 Urquhart Rabelais iii. iv, Gold, silver..chains, rings, with other ware and chaffer of that nature. |
† b. good chaffer: a good commodity in the market. Obs.
| 1340 Ayenb. 191 Merci is guod chapuare, uor hi deþ wexe þe timliche guodes. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 271/2 The old Proverbe (Gold is good chaffer howsoever it come). 1601 Holland Pliny I. 134 Another Island..wherein pearles are good chaffer, and yeeld gainfull trafficke. Ibid. 377 Those cuttings are good chaffer, and sold very well to the merchant. 1610 ― Camden's Brit. i. 186 They be very good chaffer and right welcome merchandise. |
† 3. fig. cf. ware, stuff.
| c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xvii. 100 As thouȝ Cristis seid lawe were so feble chaffare. 1567 Drant Horace's De Arte Poet. B vij, He will..ornaments superfluous from better chaffer scum. 1607 T. Walkington Opt. Glass Ep. Ded. 3 Whoe have inriched whole reames of paper with the Indian mine, and golden chaffaire of their invention. |
4. Comb. chaffer-whale, ‘the round-lipped whale’ (Jam.).
| 1809 A. Edmondston Zetland II. 300 (Jam.) Delphinus Orca (Linn.), Chaffer-whale, Grampus. 1822 Scott Pirate x, He is like the greedy chaffer-whale, that will change his course and dive for the most petty coin which a fisher can cast at him. [Merely taken from Edmonston, l.c.] |
▪ II. chaffer, n.2 colloq.
(ˈtʃɑːfə(r), -æ-)
[f. chaff v.2 + -er1.]
One who chaffs or indulges in banter.
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour 327 She was considered to be the best ‘chaffer’ on the road; not one of them could stand against her tongue. |
▪ III. chaffer, n.3
see chafer.
▪ IV. chaffer, v.
(ˈtʃæfə(r))
Forms: 4 chapfari, 4–5 cheffare(n, chaffare(n, 5–6 chaffare, chaffere, 5– chaffer. (See also the n.)
[In the Ayenbite (1340) chapfar-i, f. chapfare, chaffer n.1: cf. the vbs. to trade, traffic, also f. the ns.]
† 1. intr. To trade, buy and sell, deal in merchandise; to traffic. Obs. exc. as in b.
| 1340 Ayenb. 162 Þe borgeys wylneþ to chapfari an to wynne. 1340–70 Alisaunder 1210 It [Byzaunce] was chosen for cheefe to cheffaren in. 1388 Wyclif Luke xix. 13 Chaffare ȝe, til Y come. c 1440 Gesta Rom. 389 (Add. MS.) He wente, ande Chaffared faste, and wanne mekille. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 94 With whom they chaffer and traffick only for a certaine precious stone..which we call a Carbuncle. 1640 H. Grimston in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 122 This great Arch-bishop of Canterbury..hath most unworthily trucked and chaffered in the meanest of them. |
b. passing into the sense of 2.
| 1692 Dryden Epil. Hen. II, 24 The play-house is a kind of market-place; One chaffers for a voice, another for a face. a 1700 ― Fables, Gd. Parson 70 To chaffer for preferment with his gold, Where bishoprics and sinecures are sold. 1858 Longfellow M. Standish vii. 37 The traders Touching at times on the coast, to barter and chaffer for peltries. |
† c. Const. to. (Obs. rare.)
| 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Rich. II, clxiii, But Hee, who knew the valew of his blood, Chaffers to his Ambition. |
2. Now chiefly in the sense: To treat about a bargain; to bargain, haggle about terms or price.
| 1725 De Foe Voy. round W. (1840) 86 They were longer than ordinary in making their market. While they were thus chaffering on board, etc. 1759 Sterne Tr. Shandy (1802) I. ix. 21, I hate chaffering and higgling for a few guineas in a dark entry. 1828 Miss Mitford Village Ser. iii. (1863) 78 They were chaffering about the price. 1851 D. Jerrold St. Giles vi. 54 Titled gentlemen, coming about me and chaffering with me for that little jewel. 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh v. 1264 Having chaffered for my book's price with the publisher. 1865 W. Palgrave Arabia I. 155 They will chaffer half a day about a penny. 1871 Athenæum 30 Sept. 423 The merchants go in, not to dally and chaffer, but to buy. |
3. transf. and fig. (from 1 and 2). To deal, bargain, haggle, discuss terms, bandy words.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 160 Charite..ne chaffareth nouȝte, ne chalengeth, ne craueth. a 1617 Hieron Wks. I. 60 The best course..is..not so much as to vse any speeches of chafering with him [the atheist]. 1827 Scott Highl. Widow v, Thinkest thou to chaffer with Him, who formed the earth, and spread out the heavens? 1828 Carlyle Misc. (1857) I. 227 And so stand chaffering with Fate. 1860 Motley Netherl. (1868) I. ii. 59 That each Province should chaffer as little as possible about details. |
4. trans. † a. To buy and sell; to traffic in; to exchange, barter. Obs.
| c 1400 Plowman's T. xii. in Chaucer's Wks. (1562), [That] with pride punished the poore..With money filled many a male And chaffren churches when thei fall. 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 1159 He chaffred Chayres in which Churchmen were set. 1650 Fuller Pisgah ii. v. 127 Horsemen as well as horses were chaffered in their markets. 1680 H. More Apocal. Apoc. 182 Great Dignities and Preferments, which she chaffered for the maintaining..her own interest. |
† b. fig. (to chaffer words: to exchange or bandy words.) Obs.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. ii. v. 3 He never staid to greete, Ne chaffar words, prowd corage to provoke. 1600 Fairfax Tasso xvi. xliii. 289 Sworne foes sometime will talke, and chaffer words. 1624 Bp. R. Montagu Gagg 89 Merchants..that chaffer Heaven and Happinesse for the reward of iniquity. 1652 Benlowes Theoph. i. xxix, Go chaffer blisse for pleasure. |
c. modified by away, down, † forth.
| 1530 Latimer Serm. & Rem. (1845) 307 Not to hide..but to chaffer it forth to others. 1649 Bp. Reynolds Hosea ii. 77 Wicked men..chaffer and grant away their time, and strength. 1813 Scott Trierm. ii. xxi, ‘Reserve thy boon, my liege,’ she said, ‘Thus chaffered down and limited.’ 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) II. xi. 353 They saw with indignation that Dunkirk..had been chaffered away by Charles. |
¶ 5. ‘To chaffer is now to talk much and idly’ (Trench Select Gl. (1859–73) 32).
Hence in Webster, Ogilvie, etc.; but the statement seems doubtful; cf. however chaffering ppl. a. 1856.
¶ 6. ? To mingle, interchange, exchange.
| 1720 W. Gibson Diet. Horses i. (ed. 3) 5 Horses..which have too much White on any Part of their Body, which is not mixed or chaffered with Hairs of the Horse's Colour. |
▪ V. chaffer
obs. form of chafer.