▪ I. chafing, vbl. n.
(ˈtʃeɪfɪŋ)
Also chaffing.
[f. chafe v. + -ing1.]
1. The action of the verb chafe, q.v., in its various senses.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. liv. (1495) 635 The juys of Elitropium..helpyth moche ayenst chauffyng and stoppynge of the lyuour. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 68 Chafynge, confricacio. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 100/3 Wythout felyng of ony hete or chauffyng. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 227 Vncessant rubbynge & chafynge. 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 17 With spitefull obrayds and vncharitabl chaffings alweiz they freat. 1577 J. Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 128 There is no harm if they play..without swearing, chafing, or couetousnesse. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong., Eschauffement, chafing, warming, heating. c 1590 Marlowe Faust. viii. 6 He keeps such a chafing with my mistress about it. 1600 Holland Livy ii. xxix. 62 k, There was more clamour, brawling and chafing than any hurt done. 1656 Ridgley Pract. Physic 265 Until the part be first heated by Chafing. 1826 E. Irving Babylon I. ii. 151 The chaffing of its [the sea's] rocky and pebbled bed. 1845 R. Hamilton Pop. Educ. x. (ed. 2) 314 The chafings of party strife. 1873 G. C. Davies Mount. & Mere xvi. 142 The chafing of the sheets, the rattling of the blocks, and the whistling of the gale in the shrouds. |
2. Comb., as chafing-cheeks n. pl. (Naut.), ‘a name given by old sailors to the sheaves instead of blocks on the yards in light-rigged vessels’; chafing-gear (Naut.), ‘the stuff put upon the rigging and spars to prevent their being chafed’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.); chafing-mat (see quot.); chafing-pan = chafing-dish.
| 1840 R. Dana Bef. Mast iii. 5 Wherever any of the..ropes..are chafing or wearing upon it, there ‘chafing gear’, as it is called, must be put on. 1867 Chamb. Jrnl. 30 Nov. 767/2 An improved chafing-pan..which instead of fuel, has a small lamp. 1882 Daily Tel. 12 Sept. 2/1 Dead-eyes to turn in, chafing gear to look after, reef-knots to point. 1883 Century Mag. Oct. 941/1 Putting on chafing-mats to protect those parts of the rigging most exposed to wear. |
▪ II. ˈchafing, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That chafes; in various senses of the vb.
| 1539 St. Papers in Froude Hist. Eng. (1880) III. 433 He is so hawte & chafing that men be afeared to speak to him. 1561 Hollybush Hom. Apoth. 27 b, Let hym eate no..chafynge or inflamynge meate. 1762 Churchill Ghost iii. Wks. 1774 II. 55 Not quite so fast as Terror rides When He the chafing winds bestrides. 1843 J. Martineau Chr. Life (1867) 239 The miseries of a blank and chafing mind. 1865 Livingstone Zambesi xii. 251 To spill us all into the chafing river. |