Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to banter, to tease, usu. gently; thus chaff down a peeler, to tease a policeman.

c.1640		Downfall of Charing-Cross Percy Ballads (1857) II 345: At the end of the Strand they make a stand, Swearing they are at a loss, And chaffing say that’s not the way, They must go by Charing-Cross .
1719		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy III 33: And Chaffing say, that’s not the way.
1819		P. Egan Key to the Picture of the Fancy going to a Fight 9: The Swell chaffs it as ‘Blue Ruin’ to elevate his notionsd.
1821		Egan Life in London (1869) 217: Both these fair ones [...] are chaffing at ‘Fat Bet’.
1833		‘Coalheaver’s Feast’ in Fun Alive O! 58: Laughing and joking / Chaffing and smoking.
1840		‘Queen’s Marriage’ in C. Hindley James Catnach (1878) 324: So John Bull he may laugh, / And the Radicals chaff.
1849		Bell’s Life in Sydney 23 June 3/3: The complainant was in the constant habit of ‘chaff¡ng,’ (or ‘abusing’ as it ought more properly to be termed), the defendant.
1851		Proc. Old Bailey 12 May 119: I [...] chaffed him about his being out with two females in a cab, and told him he would get into trouble about it.
1853		‘Cuthbert Bede’ Adventures of Mr Verdant Green (1982) I 116: His own rooms were [...] removed from the possibility of his friends, when he had sported his oak, being able to get through his window and ‘chaff’ him.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 35/2: Though he’s only twelve years old he’ll chaff down a peeler so uncommon severe.
1869		T. Taylor New Men & Old Acres 8: Lil.: I only talked with him for sport, and chaffed him frightfully .
1870		in G. Legman Limerick (1953) 261: Just to chaff him a bit / She said, ‘You old shit, / I can buy a dildo for a sovereign’.
1870		Sportsman (London) 23 Feb. 2/1: Has Dr. Russell been ‘chaffing’ his audience, or is the American gentleman trying to ‘sell’ his readers?
1874		M. Clarke Term of His Natural Life (1897) 275: He had often been oppressed by the notion that the Reverend Mr. North ‘chaffed’ him.
1882		G.A. Sala in Living London (1883) Oct. 458: The gallery, at first disposed to be somewhat derisive, speedily toned down, and those who came to ‘chaff’ remained to applaud.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 6 June 18/1: Society chaffs Queen Victoria thus:- ‘Like most elderly ladies, Her Majesty revels in three things – viz., a birth […], a marriage […], and a funeral, for which she has a melancholy weakness […].’.
1894		G. Moore Esther Waters 10: They’ll chaff dreadful, and call you Creeping J—.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 16: Chaff, [...] to hoax.
1900		Boy’s Own Paper 22 Dec. 187: Do you remember how we use to chaff you about it at Eton in the old days?
1905		Sun. Times (Perth) 22 Jan. 4/7: It’s [i.e. flirting] a pleasant break in the business and I only just chaff them.
1912		Truth (Wellington) 6 Apr. 7/5: Some of his pals chaffed him at being caught by the old tart whom Eddart had cast off.
1914		Joyce ‘Counterparts’ Dubliners (1956) 92: Farrington’s heavy dirty eyes leered at the company in token that he understood he was being chaffed.
1917		Union Jack 5 May 17: ‘But why don’t you come on and collar us?’ chaffed Lord Tinribs.
1925		L. Doyle Dear Ducks 258: ‘It’s the Orange trainin’ she got from the family, Father John,’ sez I, chaffin’ him a bit.
1928		D. Lawley Hustling Hobo 77: The boys smiled and chaffed, but none dare to refer to the lady known as Pie Face.
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 211: He went to his men at last and spent some minutes with them, drank a glass and chaffed them for their foolery with their lubras.
1946		S. Jackson An Indiscreet Guide to Soho 99: A lanky young fellow [...] grins good-humouredly when chaffed about the gingerish beard he is growing.
1958		Willans & Searle Complete Molesworth (1985) 299: You catch the old works bus and clock-in, put on your overalls, chaff the gurls.
1961		F. O’Connor An Only Child (1970) 60: Kathleen and Nan chaffed her about her young man.
1963		(con. 1944) L. Glassop Rats in New Guinea 166: I am not here to be laughed at, chaffed at and otherwise buggered about by the peasantry.
1970		A. Sillitoe Start in Life (1979) 363: Don’t the others ever chaff you?

2. to extol, to promote.

1819

P. Egan Key to the Picture of the Fancy going to a Fight 16: The Plum-Pudding Hero [...] thinks it a good spec to go down the road with his ‘All hot,’ chaffing its good qualities .

3. to betray secrets, to gossip.

1830

Egan Finish to the Adventures of Tom and Jerry (1889) 118: I should not be supported by any genteel folks, if I was to chaff out of doors about my visitors.

4. (S.Afr.) to give someone something.

1963

L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 104: He would ‘chaff them a shot’, and be with them.

5. (S.Afr., also charf) to say something.

1966		J. Taylor ‘Mommy, I’d Like to Be’ 🎵 Sussie I chaff I’ll win, / Win my bet to make you grin. / With a blade of grass I’ll tickle your chin, / Sussie I chaff I’ll win [DSAE].
1990		R. Malan My Traitor’s Heart (1991) 71: You had to charf (say), ‘Level with the gravel, ek sê’.

6. (S.Afr.) to tell (someone something).

1970		informant in DSAE.
1988		S.A. Botha in Frontline Apr.–May 24: ‘I tjaaf you, the peckies are getting white these days,’ said Don [DSAE].
1991		informant in DSAE.

7. (S.Afr.) to flirt, to approach sexually, to ‘get fresh’.

1982

P. Slabolepszy Sat. Night at the Palace (1985) 27: vince: Should have swallowed my pride and gone home with that chick. forsie: So, why didn’t you? vince: Fear of rape. Didn’t want to risk it. forsie: Please! You just couldn’t chaff her, that’s all.

8. (S.Afr.) to ask (someone something).

1988

Sun. Times (Jo’burg) 25 June 19: When the Adj went to chaff the 2 IB about next week’s rock festival he got a storing [DSAE].