Containing chaff or mixed with chaff; or past tense of chaff (to tease or joke).
From Old English ceaf, ceaff (chaff, husk). Related to separating grain from its protective covering through threshing.
The word chaff appears in Shakespeare's King Lear when Cordelia says truth must separate itself from flattery—this grain metaphor for separating truth from nonsense is thousands of years old!
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