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 *calefāre, alteration of Latin calefacere : calēre, to be warm + facere, to make.]

SYNONYMS  chafe, abrade, excoriate, fret, gall. 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.

verb

1. To make (the skin) raw by or as if by friction: abrade, excoriate, fret, gall, irritate. See help/harm/harmless.
2. To trouble the nerves or peace of mind of, especially by repeated vexations: aggravate, annoy, bother, bug, disturb, exasperate, fret, gall, get, irk, irritate, nettle, peeve, provoke, put out, rile, ruffle, vex. Idioms: get in one's hair, get on one's nerves, get under one's skin. See feelings, pain/pleasure.
3. To worry over trifles: fuss, pother. Informal take on. See calm/agitation.

v

Definition: annoy
Antonyms: make happy

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To irritate the skin by friction, usually from harness, or the rubbing together of body surfaces, such as the thighs, when they are damp with perspiration, or the rubbing together of opposing skin folds.

Learning to deal with chafe before it causes danger
All boats have gear that is subject to chafe, but it is particularly a factor aboard a sailboat on a long passage. Not only sails, but also running rigging and even electrical cables can fail because of chafe.Wherever a soft line or piece of sail cloth can rub against a harder object such as a shroud or a coaming, chafe will result. Sometimes the results can be dangerous; almost always, they are inconvenient.Headsail sheets often rub against the shrouds, and they’re particularly prone to chafe when you’re hove-to and the headsail is aback. Protect them by fitting plastic tubing or split wooden rollers over the lower parts of the shrouds.Check that the topping lift doesn’t contact the leech of the mainsail; it can do a lot of damage to the sail in quick order. Similarly, make sure the genoa doesn’t rub on the spreader when you’re beating. In a choppy head sea, you can poke a hole through the sail that way.When you’re running before the wind and the boom is squared off, watch the mainsail for chafe against the rigging. In particular, be certain the sail isn’t rubbing up and down against a shroud as the boom rises and falls. If it is, pin the boom down tightly with its own vang, or else attach a preventer guy to the boom end and make it fast at deck level up forward. If you want that old-fashioned look (along with added windage), use baggywrinkle—fluffed up ends of small line made tightly fast around the shrouds—to help prevent the mainsail from chafing.Hose down your sails with fresh water, or let the rain do the job, after they get sprayed with salt water. Dried salt crystals are abrasive and will gnaw away at Dacron or nylon fibers.The mainsheet can chafe on the lifelines, the dinghy painter can chafe on the transom, and an anchor cable can chafe on a bowsprit bobstay or on the sharp edges of a bow-roller fitting. Mooring lines chafe on toerails and in roughly finished chocks. Electrical cables in a mast or down below that are not fixed in place every foot or so can joggle around, snag on obstructions, and chafe through their insulation where they pass through bulkheads. If they touch other bare wires or metal, they can short out and cause a dangerous fire.Beware of chafe all the time you’re on a boat, even where you can’t see it. It’s everywhere.See also Booms; Headsails; Lifelines; Preventers; Sail Cloth; Shrouds and Stays; Spreaders.

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Dansk (Danish)
v. tr. - gnide, gnave, irritere
v. intr. - skamfile, fnyse
n. - gnidning

idioms:

• chafe at the bit    gnave i bidslet, være utålmodig
• chafing dish    fyrfad

Nederlands (Dutch)
schaven, zich ergeren, schaafwond, ergernis

Français (French)
v. tr. - irriter, entamer, frictionner
v. intr. - frotter sur, s'irriter à
n. - écorchure

idioms:

• chafe at the bit    (fig) ronger son frein
• chafing dish    réchaud de table

Deutsch (German)
v. - aufschürfen, scheuern, reizen
n. - wunde Stelle, Ärger

idioms:

• chafe at the bit    ungeduldig werden, sich Ärgern, Ärger
• chafing dish    Gerät, um Gerichte warm zu halten

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - ζεσταίνω με τρίψιμο, ερεθίζω, συγκαίω, γδέρνω, ξεφτίζω, εκνευρίζω
n. - εκνευρισμός, ερεθισμός, σύγκαμα

idioms:

• chafe at the bit    (καθομ.) αδημονώ, δεν κρατιέμαι
• chafing dish    επιτραπέζιο σκεύος με καμινέτο

Italiano (Italian)
scorticare, riscaldare, irritare, criticare aspramente

Português (Portuguese)
v. - aquecer pelo atrito, esfolar, desgastar, irritar-se
n. - fricção (f), esfoladura (f), raiva (f) (fig.)

idioms:

• chafe at the bit    perder a paciência
• chafing dish    rescaldo (m)

Русский (Russian)
натирать

idioms:

• chafe at the bit    хочет по скорее взяться за дело
• chafing dish    жаровня

Español (Spanish)
v. tr. - rozar, frotar, escoriar, desgastar
v. intr. - rozarse, frotarse, escoriarse, desgastarse
n. - roce, escoria, desgaste

idioms:

• chafe at the bit    ansioso por comenzar
• chafing dish    escalfador, cocinilla

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - gnida varm, gnida sönder, reta (bildl.), skrapa emot, bli irriterad (bildl.)
n. - skavsår, irritation

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
擦伤, 擦痛, 擦破, 磨损, 磨坏, 擦热, 惹怒, 羞恼, 磨擦, 焦躁, 气恼

idioms:

• chafe at the bit    烦躁不安地...
• chafing dish    火锅

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
v. tr. - 擦傷, 擦痛, 擦破, 磨損, 磨壞, 擦熱, 惹怒
v. intr. - 擦傷, 羞惱, 磨擦, 焦躁
n. - 擦傷, 氣惱

idioms:

• chafe at the bit    煩躁不安地...
• chafing dish    火鍋

한국어 (Korean)
v. tr. - 비벼서 따뜻하게 하다, 살을 벗기다, 약올리다
v. intr. - 몸을 비벼대다, 까지다, 약오르다
n. - 마찰, 안달

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - こすってすりむく, すりむけて痛む, こすって暖める, いらだつ, すり減らす, 体をこすり付ける

idioms:

• chafe at the bit    いらいら, じりじりする

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) غضب, استدفأ بحك الجلد, حك, فرك (الاسم) غضب, حرارة, غيظ‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮שפשף, חיכך‬
v. intr. - ‮השתפשף, חכך‬
n. - ‮פצע חכך בעור‬

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