chaff

Everyday

1. The dry husks (outer cases) of grain such as wheat, separated from the seeds when farmers thresh it. tree →
2. Cut hay or straw used as animal food. tree →
3. Something useless or worthless: «separate the wheat from the chaff» means keep the good and throw out the bad. tree →
4. (old-fashioned) Friendly teasing; to chaff someone means to tease them in fun. tree →

In the lessons

In farming and history lessons chaff is what blows away when grain is winnowed. In the Bible the wicked are compared to chaff that the wind drives away. The phrase «sort the wheat from the chaff» is common in everyday talk about choosing the best. The teasing sense is old and appears in Victorian and Edwardian books.

Examples

• The farmer threw the grain into the air and the wind blew the chaff away. tree →
• Horses eat chaff mixed with oats. tree →
• We must sort the wheat from the chaff in these ideas. tree →
• The psalm says the wicked are like chaff that the wind blows away. tree →
• The older boys chaffed him about his new hat. tree →
• Chaff from the threshing machine covered the barn floor. tree →
• Consequently, not knowing what had happened, he and the vizier's son walked away, the vizier's son chaffing him because he had missed the bird. tree →

Note

Uncountable: «some chaff», not «a chaff». Do not mix up with «chafe» (to rub and make sore). The teasing sense is old-fashioned; today people say «tease» or «banter».

In Jewish tradition

The dry husk blown away from grain when it is threshed. It is a picture of what is light and worthless.

Interpretation. The wicked are likened to chaff because they have no roots or weight. Tradition reads this as a teaching that evil does not last, while the righteous are like a firmly planted tree.

Examples

• Not so the wicked; but they are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. (Writings PSA.1.4, JPS 1917) tree →
• Let them be as chaff before the wind, the angel of the LORD thrusting them. (Writings PSA.35.5, JPS 1917) tree →
• That they are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm stealeth away? (Writings JOB.21.18, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Uncountable: «some chaff», not «a chaff». Do not mix up with «chafe» (to rub and make sore). The teasing sense is old-fashioned; today people say «tease» or «banter».