• (America) IPA: /tʃeɪf/

chafe (uncountable)

1. Heat excited by friction.
2. Injury or wear caused by friction.
3. Vexation; irritation of mind; rage.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.5:

     Like a wylde Bull, that, being at a bay, / Is bayted of a mastiffe and a hound / […] That in his chauffe he digs the trampled ground / And threats his horns […]

4. (archaic) An expression of opinionated conflict.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:argument

   • 1830, Joseph Plumb Martin, The Adventures Of A Revolutionary Soldier

     When we returned we found the poor prisoner in a terrible chafe with the sentinel for detaining him, for the guard had been true to his trust.

• French: chauffer en frictionnant
• German: Reibungswärme
• Italian: surriscaldamento
• Spanish: sobrecalentamiento

• French: inflammation, abrasion
• German: Schürfwunde, Verschleiß, Abnutzung
• Italian: abrasione, escoriazione
• Portuguese: esfolamento
• Russian: сса́дина
• Spanish: escocimiento, irritación, cocedura, rozadura

• French: énervement, colère
• German: Ärger, Verdruss, Belästigung, Wut, Qual, Beunruhigung
• Italian: irritazione, collera, stizza, rabbia, nervosismo
• Portuguese: raiva
• Russian: раздраже́ние
• Spanish: solivianto

chafe (chafes, present participle chafing; past and past participle chafed)

1. (transitive) To excite heat in by friction; to rub in order to stimulate and make warm.
2. (transitive) To excite passion or anger in; to fret; to irritate.
3. (transitive) To fret and wear by rubbing.

   to chafe a cable

4. (intransitive) To rub; to come together so as to wear by rubbing; to wear by friction.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Ivlivs Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene ii]:

     the troubled Tiber chafing with her shores

   • made its great boughs chafe together

5. (intransitive) To be worn by rubbing.

   A cable chafes.

6. (intransitive) To have a feeling of vexation; to be vexed; to fret; to be irritated.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The Merry VViues of VVindsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene iii]:

     He will chafe at the doctor's marrying my daughter.

   • 1996, Jim Schiller, Developing Jepara in New Order Indonesia, page 58:

     Many local politicians chafed under the restrictions of Guided Democracy […]

• German: belästigen, ärgern, nervös machen, reizen, verärgern, aufregen, verdrießen, erregen, erzürnen, irritieren, anecken
• Italian: arrapare, stimolare, attizzare, provocare
• Portuguese: enraivecer
• Russian: дразни́ть
• Spanish: irritar, soliviantar, enrabietar

• German: verschleißen, abnutzen, abreiben, abscheuern, scheuern
• Portuguese: friccionar
• Russian: натира́ть
• Spanish: escocer, irritar

• German: reiben, scheuern
• Portuguese: atritar
• Russian: тере́ть

• German: verschleißen, durchscheuern, abscheuern, abreiben, durchreiben
• Portuguese: desgastar
• Russian: протира́ться
• Spanish: escocer, irritar

• French: irriter, vexer
• German: irritieren, verärgern, bekümmern, plagen, belästigen, aufregen, quälen, beunruhigen
• Portuguese: irritar-se
• Russian: горячи́ться
• Spanish: irritarse