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chef

noun, verb — 8 senses

chef

noun

/ʃɛf/ · /t͡ʃɛf/

Etymology Unadapted borrowing from French chef (from the positions of chef d'office and chef de cuisine), from Old French chief (“head, leader”) (English chief), from Vulgar Latin capus (“head”) (from which also captain, chieftain), from Latin caput (“head”) (possibly related to English cap (“head covering”)). Doublet of cape, capo, caput, and chief through Latin, and head and Howth through Proto-Indo-European.

1

The presiding cook in the kitchen of a large household.

  • The Chef's peace of mind was restor'd, And in due time a banquet was placed on the board.a. 1845, R. H. Barham, Blasphemer's Warning in Ingoldsby Legends (1847), 3rd Ser., 245
2

The head cook of a restaurant or other establishment.

  • The cause of the disturbance, it appeared, was the angry little chef of Sir Francis Clavering's culinary establishment.1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Which Is Both Quarrelsome and Sentimental”, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume I, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849, →OCLC, page 266:
3

Any cook.

  • My partner is the chef of the household, while I do most of the cleaning.
4

Slang One who manufactures illegal drugs; a cook.

  • But trying to stop all the nation's meth chefs makes as much sense as building a wall along the Mexican border.1998, SPIN, volume 14, number 3, page 100:
  • Owsley Stanley, the world's most exacting and prolific LSD chef who supplied the majority of America's West Coast with LSD in the 1960s, claimed he made so much acid not because he wanted to change the world, but rather because it was almost impossible not to make vast quantities of the drug once the synthesis had been embarked upon.2013, Mike Power, Drugs 2.0:
5

Historical A reliquary in the shape of a head.

Synonyms
magirist, magirologist
Derived terms
28 termsautochef, chefdom, chefess, cheffery, cheffy, chefless, cheflike, chefling, chefly, chefmanship, Chef Mike, chefnap, chef salad, chef's kiss, cheftender, chefware, chef watcher, chefwear, head chef, nonchef, pastry chef, robochef, short-order chef, station chef, subchef, superchef, uberchef, underchef
Related terms
chef de cuisine, chef de mission, chef de rang, chef d'oeuvre, chef d'œuvre, chef-d'œuvre
Hypernyms
cook

chef

verb

Etymology Unadapted borrowing from French chef (from the positions of chef d'office and chef de cuisine), from Old French chief (“head, leader”) (English chief), from Vulgar Latin capus (“head”) (from which also captain, chieftain), from Latin caput (“head”) (possibly related to English cap (“head covering”)). Doublet of cape, capo, caput, and chief through Latin, and head and Howth through Proto-Indo-European.

1

Informal, Stative To work as a chef; to prepare and cook food professionally.

  • It was Brick who talked on alumni relations with the active chapters and who cheffed at our steak fry (more of that later) and Mrs. Cowles who took over […]1953, The Deke Quarterly, volume 71, number 4, page 32:
  • I cheffed part-time at a nice restaurant in town.1996, Sonora Review, number 31, page 110:
2 more examples
  • He opened Oakleys in 2002, having formerly cheffed at the late, much-missed Something Different and, before that, world-renowned kitchens in Chicago […]2007, Indianapolis Monthly, page 68:
  • A man called Richard Briggs cheffed at the Globe Tavern on Fleet Street, the White Hart Tavern in Holborn and the Temple Coffee House.2020, William Sitwell, The Restaurant: A History of Eating Out, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:
2

Multicultural London English To stab with a knife, to shank.

  • He got cheffed up proper.
  • Still on my knife work chef him up with that rambo2016, “Skeng Man”, ASAP of 67 (lyrics):
4 more examples
  • Child just said he'd "chef me up". I said not hungry, but it restored my faith in young generation, offering to cook for strangers.2017 June 13, @louistheroux, Twitter, archived from the original on 08 Nov 2023:
  • He got cheffed in the A in the head2018 August 9, “Pallance 2.0”, Taze of SMG (lyrics):
  • Third time he was out of luck He tripped up and got cheffed2018 August 16, “Ks On Who”, Sav12 of 12World (lyrics):
  • Asked how he knew that, he replied: "Uh? Because I know that ... It was to do with Svenson's op - they cheffed him up a couple of month or something, a couple of months before.2019 October 9, Manuel Petrovic, quotee, “Jodie Chesney: Killer targeted 'wrong people' court told”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 06 Nov 2019:
3

Internet To impress others.

  • thinkin' that I be cheffin'.'2020, “Drip Like Me”, performed by Kenndog:
Derived terms
cheffer, chef up

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.