Forms: 3 chaffere, 4 cheapfare, chapfare, -vare, 3–5 cheffare, 3–6 chaffare (chaffere, chafare, chefare), 4–7 chaffar, 4– chaffer. (Also 5 chafar, -ir, -yr, -ayre, chaffour, chaffur, chafre, caffer, 5–6 chaffre, 5–7 chafer, 6 chaffayre, 7 chaffaire.) [In the Ayenbite (1340) cheapfare, chapfare:—OE. type *céapfaru, f. céap bargain, sale + faru faring, going; not recorded, but the cognate ON. kaupfǫr is extant in sense ‘trading journey.’ Assimilation of pf to ff gave the general ME. types cheffare, chaffare: with the a in the latter, cf. OE. céapmǫnn, ME. chepmon and chapman, now CHAPMAN. Apparently the original sb. became obs. in the 17th c., but has been formed anew from the vb., in sense 1 b.]
† 1. Traffic, trade; buying and selling, dealing Obs. exc. as in b.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 418. None cheffare ne driue ȝe.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 9. Weilawei!… hwuch unwurðe chaffere.
c. 1320. Sir Beues, 2062. God ȝeue it … We hadde driue þat chefare.
1340. Ayenb., 36. Þe vifte manere [sc. of gauelinge] is ine cheapfare. Ibid., 45. Þe eȝtende boȝ of auarice is chapfare … Ine uele oþre maneres me may zeneȝi ine chapfares.
138[?]. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 50. Sum [wenten] after chaffare of þis worldely richesse.
c. 1450. Myrc, 1299. Hast thow bygylet in chafare?
1551–6. Robinson, trans. More’s Utop., 63. Money, wherewith to mayneteyne their dayly occupieng and chaffayre.
1613. R. C., Table Alph. (ed. 3), Chaffar, buying and selling.
1662. Fuller, Worthies, III. 150. By sad chaffer, they were fain to give money for water.
b. In modern use, chiefly from the vb.: Chaffering, bargaining, haggling as to price.
1851. Longf., Gold. Leg., vi. Sch. Salerno. What do I care for the Doctor Seraphic, With all his wordy chaffer and traffic?
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., I. II. 589. The dark-eyed merchants of the southern seas In chaffer with the base Propœtides.
1878. H. M. Stanley, Dark Cont., II. xvi. 431. I was unable to purchase anything more than a few ground-nuts, because it involved such serious controversy and chaffer as sickened the hungry stomach.
† 2. That which is bought and sold; wares, merchandise, goods for barter or sale. Obs.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 1951. Fro galaad men wið chafare Saȝ he ðor kumen wid spices ware.
1297. R. Glouc., 539. To late in tueie wolmongers, hor chaffare in to lede.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. V. 174. Þer weore chapmen I-chose þe chaffare to preise.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., 285 (Add. MS.). X. asses chargede with dyuerse chaffare.
1441. Plumpton Corr., Introd. 54. None of the Kings said tenants might, ne durst come att the towne of Ripon … to utter their caffer, wherewith to pay his farme.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (1531), 25. As a marchaunt sheweth his marchaundyse or chafer.
c. 1612. Rowlands, Four Knaves (1843), 96. His good daies are when ’s chaffer is well sold.
a. 1693. Urquhart, Rabelais, III. iv. Gold, silver … chains, rings, with other ware and chaffer of that nature.
† b. Good chaffer: a good commodity in the market. Obs.
1340. Ayenb., 191. Merci is guod chapuare, uor hi deþ wexe þe timliche guodes.
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 271/2. The old Proverbe (Gold is good chaffer howsoever it come).
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 134. Another Island … wherein pearles are good chaffer, and yeeld gainfull trafficke. Ibid., 377. Those cuttings are good chaffer, and sold very well to the merchant. Ibid. (1610), Camden’s Brit., I. 186. They be very good chaffer and right welcome merchandise.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., I. xvii. 100. As thouȝ Cristis seid lawe were so feble chaffare.
1567. Drant, Horace’s De Arte Poet., B vij. He will … ornaments superfluous from better chaffer scum.
1607. Walkington, Opt. Glass, Ep. Ded. 4. Whoe haue inriched whole reames of paper with the Indian mine, and golden chaffaire of their inuention.
4. Comb. chaffer-whale, ‘the round-lipped whale’ (Jam.).
1809. Edmonston, Zetland Isl., II. 300 (Jam.). Delphinus Orca, (Lin. syst.), Chaffer-whale, Grampus.
1822. Scott, Pirate, x. He is like the greedy chaffer-whale, that will change his course and dive for the most petty coin which a fisher can cast at him. [Merely taken from Edmonston, l.c.]
