Chaff1. (n.) The glumes or husks of grains and grasses separated from the seed by threshing and winnowing, etc.
2. (n.) Anything of a comparatively light and worthless character; the refuse part of anything.
3. (n.) Straw or hay cut up fine for the food of cattle.
4. (n.) Light jesting talk; banter; raillery.
5. (n.) The scales or bracts on the receptacle, which subtend each flower in the heads of many Compositae, as the sunflower.
6. (v. i.) To use light, idle language by way of fun or ridicule; to banter.
7. (v. t.) To make fun of; to turn into ridicule by addressing in ironical or bantering language; to quiz.
Thesaurus Entries
afterglow, afterimage, air, aluminum foil, badinage, balance, banter, bark, barrack, bones, bran, bric-a-brac, bubble, butt, butt end, candle ends, capsule, case, cattle, chicken feed, chickenshit, chip, cobweb, cork, corn shuck, cornhusk, culm, cut at, deadwood, debris, details, detritus, dig at, dishwater, down, draff, dregs, dregs of society, dump on, dust, end, ether, exchange, fag end, fairy, feather, filings, fleer, flout, flue, fluff, foam, fooling, fooling around, fossil, froth, fun, fuzz, garbage, gash, gibe, gimcrackery, give-and-take, good-natured banter, gossamer, harmless teasing, haze, hogwash, holdover, hull, husk, husks, jab, jab at, jacket, jape, jeer, jest, jive, joke, joking, jolly, josh, joshing, kid, kidding, kidding around, knickknackery, leavings, lees, leftovers, minutiae, mock, mote, needle, odds and ends, offal, offscourings, offscum, orts, palea, parings, peanuts, peel, persiflage, pleasantry, pod, pooh, pooh-pooh, potsherds, put down, put on, raff, rag, ragging, rags, rail at, raillery, rally, rallying, rank out, raspings, razz, refuse, relics, remainder, remains, remnant, residue, residuum, rest, revile, rib, ride, ridicule, riffraff, rind, roach, roast, rubbish, ruins, rump, sawdust, scoff, scourings, scout, scrap iron, scraps, scum, shadow, shards, shavings, shell, shuck, skin, slack, slag, slam, slap at, slop, slops, small beer, small change, sneer, sneer at, sordes, sponge, sport, spume, straw, stubble, stump, survival, sweepings, swill, swinish multitude, swipe, tares, taunt, tease, teasing, thistledown, tinfoil, trace, trash, trifles, trivia, trumpery, twit, twitting, vermin, vestige, wastage, waste, waste matter, wastepaper, weeds, window