Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Chaffer

Chaff′er

,
Noun.
One who chaffs.

Chaf′fer

,
Noun.
[OE.
chaffare
,
cheapfare
; AS.
ceáp
a bargain, price +
faru
a journey; hence, originally, a going to barain, to market. See
Cheap
, and
Fare
.]
Bargaining; merchandise.
[Obs.]
Holished.

Chaf′fer

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Chaffered
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Chaffering
.]
[OE.
chaffaren
, fr.
chaffare
,
chapfare
,
cheapfare
, a bargaining. See
Chaffer
,
Noun.
]
1.
To treat or dispute about a purchase; to bargain; to haggle or higgle; to negotiate.
To
chaffer
for preferments with his gold.
Dryden.
2.
To talk much and idly; to chatter.
Trench.

Chaf′fer

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To buy or sell; to trade in.
He
chaffered
chairs in which churchmen were set.
Spenser.
2.
To exchange; to bandy, as words.
Spenser.

Webster 1828 Edition


Chaffer

CHAFFER

,
Verb.
I.
To treat about a purchase; to bargain; to haggle; to negotiate; to chop and change; as, to chaffer for preferments.

CHAFFER

,
Verb.
T.
To buy; to exchange.

CHAFFER

,
Noun.
One who chaffers; a bargainer; a buyer.

Definition 2024


chaffer

chaffer

English

Verb

chaffer (third-person singular simple present chaffers, present participle chaffering, simple past and past participle chaffered)

  1. (intransitive) To haggle or barter.
    • Dryden
      To chaffer for preferments with his gold.
    • 1866, “Mr. Dod's Six Shots”, in Harper's Magazine, volume 32, page 208:
      While he is at the front end selling calico to some wearisome old lady, sunbonneted and chaffering, a mischievous boy is very apt to be pocketing lumps of sugar for profit, or starting the faucet of a molasses barrel for fun at the other.
    • 1985, Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked:
      But the people looked much like Caleb’s own. They wore dirty robes, chaffered at fruit stalls, spat, scratched.
  2. To talk much and idly; to chatter.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Trench to this entry?)
Synonyms
Translations

Noun

chaffer

  1. bargaining; merchandise
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Holinshed to this entry?)

Etymology 2

From chaff + -er

Noun

chaffer (plural chaffers)

  1. (agriculture) The upper sieve of a cleaning shoe in a combine harvester, where chaff is removed
    • 2003, William W. Casady, “Grain Harvesting Systems”, in Dennis R. Heldman, editor, Encyclopedia of Agricultural, Food, and Biological Engineering, page 449:
      A fan blows air through the chaffer to remove lightweight material known as chaff.
Coordinate terms
Translations

Welsh

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈχafɛr/

Verb

chaffer

  1. Aspirate mutation of caffer.