chafen

C3H4A1F4E1N1

verb

To make chafed

Scrabble 14

Meanings

chafen1

verbchafen (third-person singular simple present chafens, present participle chafening, simple past and past participle chafened)

present singular third person chafens · participle present chafening · participle past chafened · past chafened

  1. transitiveTo make chafed

    Tush, tush, it avails nought to chafen, or to chide, […]

    1874, William Carew Hazlitt, A Select Collection of Old English Plays, volume 3, page 39
    3 more examples

    Faith, picturing to its view this cross, the Holy Spirit engraving it on the heart in spiritual regeneration, the whole soul receiving him whom it lifts up, as its "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption," gently and effectually transforms the spirit, that was chafened and restless, into the "meekness and gentleness of Christ."

    1854, William Bacon Stevens, The Bow in the Cloud, page 152

    And while this was being accomplished, Time was healing all chafened surfaces and rounding off all rough and broken edges with his slow but unfailing tools […]

    1908, Mount Houmas, A Strange Record, page 112

    In a case of the head being hung back a little on one side, the shoulder should be lifted up by pressing it (with the hand) after chafening it, so as to bring the head at the door of the passage and the child should be drawn straight downward.

    1963, Suśruta, Kunja Lal Bhishagratna (Kaviraj), An English Translation of the Sushruta Samhita, page 471

Chafen2

proper nounChafen (plural Chafens)

plural Chafens

Origin

Chafen · proper noun

Variant of Chaffin.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

chafen. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chafen

MLA

“chafen.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chafen. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chafen,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chafen.

Source: chafen on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.