chaffing, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

chaffing n.

teasing, bantering.

1821–6		‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 386: I [...] cared not a straw for a severe chaffing now and then.
1827		Australian (Sydney) 11 July 4/2: Jack Kable swears he’ll ‘fight any thing alive’ for a purse of 500l. [...] There has been much ’chaffing’ in consequence.
1827		Egan Anecdotes of the Turf , the Chase etc. 19: Which the Fancy is chaffing condition shall keep.
1842		‘Chaffing Family’ in Nobby Songster 12: Its a family failing, and chaffing you know / In most families now, had become all the go.
1857		‘Leary Man’ in ‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue (1857) 43: And bullying and chaffing too, / To you should be well known.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor II 176/1: This ‘chaffing’ consists of a species of scurrilous jokes supposed to be given and taken in good part.
1870		B. Harte Luck of Roaring Camp (1873) 251: I have heard fragments of an entertaining style of dialogue usually known as ‘chaffing,’ which has just taken place between Biddy in No. 9 and the butcher who brings the dinner.
1874		J. Greenwood Wilds of London (1881) 198: I can hear them chanting ditties, both comic and sentimental, and laughing and ‘chaffing’.
1888–94		‘Walter’ My Secret Life (1966) III 624: She [...] began to return my chaffing and banter.
1896		P.L. Dunbar ‘The Spellin’-Bee’ in Lyrics of Lowly Life 97: The nudges an’ the nods an’ winks an’ stale good-natured chaffin’.
1917		W.Y. Stevenson At the Front in a Flivver 3 June 🌐 Shortly afterward Duffy turned up, and what he didn’t get in the way of chaffing, – some fun!
1923		‘Sapper’ Jim Maitland (1953) 141: He used to take our chaffing in the mildest way, blinking amiably at us from behind his spectacles.

In compounds

chaffing box (n.) (also chaffing-closet)

the mouth.

1821		‘Battle’ in Fancy I XVII 402: The secret had slipped out from some of the chaffing boxes of the lads.
1825		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 4 Sept. 253/2: The Red blade got a blow on the eye, one on the conk, and another on his chaffing-closet.
1832		Egan Bk of Sports 25: In a rally, spirited on both sides, the chaffing-box of Dick had the worst of it. [Ibid.] 189: Brown [...] planted a gentle hint on Sir John Barleycorn’s chaffing closet.
1839		Manchester Courier 29 June 2/3: They will make a great noise to bring people round the table, and then slip their chaffing box, and bolt up the course.

chaffing crib (n.) [crib n.¹ (1)]

a man’s private room, where he receives and entertains his friends.

1821		Egan Life in London (1869) 175: From the continual buz he had to encounter when any of the bons vivants dropped in to have a bit of chit-chat, Tom designated this apartment the ‘Chaffing Crib!’.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 9: Chaffing crib – a drinking room where bantering is carried on.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
c.1850		Peeping Tom (London) 1 4/3: the swell’s guide [...] The Chaffing Cribs — The introducing Houses — The Chaunting Cribs — the List of Fancy Ladies.
1878		C. Hindley Life and Times of James Catnach 134: Drawing rooms were turned into chaffing-cribs.
1890		C. Hindley True Hist. of Tom and Jerry (1892) i: Drawing-rooms were turned into chaffing cribs, and rank and beauty learned to patter flash ad nauseum.

chaffing sheet (n.)

a (down-market) newspaper.

1824

Pierce Egan’s Life in London 26 Sept. 5/2: Mr. Wm. Cliverley, jun. [...] whose first exploit and glorious victory over Mat Jones, the mason, appeared in a former chaffng-sheet.