The refuse of winnowed corn. It was usually burned (Exodus 15:7; Isaiah 5:24; Matthew 3:12). This word sometimes, however, means dried grass or hay (Isaiah 5:24; 33:11). Chaff is used as a figure of abortive wickedness (Psalm 1:4; Matthew 3:12). False doctrines are also called chaff (Jeremiah 23:28), or more correctly rendered "chopped straw." The destruction of the wicked, and their powerlessness, are likened to the carrying away of chaff by the wind (Isaiah 17:13; Hosea 13:3; Zephaniah 2:2).

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) The glumes or husks of grains and grasses separated from the seed by threshing and winnowing, etc.

2. (n.) Anything of a comparatively light and worthless character; the refuse part of anything.

3. (n.) Straw or hay cut up fine for the food of cattle.

4. (n.) Light jesting talk; banter; raillery.

5. (n.) The scales or bracts on the receptacle, which subtend each flower in the heads of many Compositae, as the sunflower.

6. (v. i.) To use light, idle language by way of fun or ridicule; to banter.

7. (v. t.) To make fun of; to turn into ridicule by addressing in ironical or bantering language; to quiz.