chafe
verb /tʃeɪf/
/tʃeɪf/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they chafe | /tʃeɪf/ /tʃeɪf/ |
| he / she / it chafes | /tʃeɪfs/ /tʃeɪfs/ |
| past simple chafed | /tʃeɪft/ /tʃeɪft/ |
| past participle chafed | /tʃeɪft/ /tʃeɪft/ |
| -ing form chafing | /ˈtʃeɪfɪŋ/ /ˈtʃeɪfɪŋ/ |
- [intransitive, transitive] if skin chafes, or if something chafes it, it becomes painful because the thing is rubbing against it
- Her wrists chafed where the rope had been.
- chafe something The collar was far too tight and chafed her neck.
- [intransitive] chafe (at/under something) (formal) to feel annoyed and impatient about something, especially because it limits what you can do
- He soon chafed at the restrictions of his situation.
- Young people often go through a phase of chafing under parental control.
Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘make warm’): from Old French chaufer ‘make hot’, based on Latin calefacere, from calere ‘be hot’ + facere ‘make’.