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chafed

   Also found in: Medical, Legal, Idioms, Wikipedia 0.03 sec.
chafe  (chf)
v. chafed, chaf·ing, chafes
v.tr.
1. To wear away or irritate by rubbing.
2. To annoy; vex.
3. To warm by rubbing, as with the hands.
v.intr.
1. To rub and cause irritation or friction: The high collar chafed against my neck.
2. To become worn or sore from rubbing.
3. To feel irritated or impatient: chafed at the delay.
n.
1. Warmth, wear, or soreness produced by friction.
2. Annoyance; vexation.

[Middle English chafen, from Old French chaufer, to warm, from Vulgar Latin *calefre, alteration of Latin calefacere : calre, to be warm; see kel-1 in Indo-European roots + facere, to make; see dh- in Indo-European roots.]
Synonyms: chafe, abrade, excoriate, fret1, gall2
These verbs mean to wear down or rub away a surface by or as if by scraping: chafed my skin; water abrading the canyon walls; metal bristles that excoriated her scalp; rope that fretted a groove in the post; stone steps galled by years of heavy use.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Adj.1.chafed - painful from having the skin abraded
painful - causing physical or psychological pain; "worked with painful slowness"


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
Circumstances of an imperious nature, which it is unnecessary to relate here, had prevented him from taking service with that gallant army which had fought the disastrous campaigns ending with the fall of Corinth, and he chafed under the inglorious restraint, longing for the release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the opportunity for distinction.
Presently she came to the top of a hill, down the side of which there was a road so narrow that the cart wheels always chafed the trees on each side as they passed.
The waif-pole was thrust upright into the dead whale's spout-hole; and the lantern hanging from its top, cast a troubled flickering glare upon the black, glossy back, and far out upon the midnight waves, which gently chafed the whale's broad flank, like soft surf upon a beach.
 
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