English Explanatory Dictionary

chef

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The presiding cook in the kitchen of a large household.
  2. The head cook of a restaurant or other establishment.
  3. Any cook.
  4. One who manufactures illegal drugs; a cook.
  5. A reliquary in the shape of a head.
verb
  1. To work as a chef; to prepare and cook food professionally.
  2. To stab with a knife, to shank.
  3. To impress others.

Pronunciation

/ʃɛf/ /t͡ʃɛf/ En-au-chef.ogg

Word forms

chef chefs cheffing cheffed

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.

Synonyms

magirist magirologist ching splash chef chib chive enthrill foin gore gride jab job juke kebab knifecrime lancinate pigstick pink poach run through shank shiv spear speet stab stick stob stog thrust yerk

Related words

chef de cuisine chef de mission chef de rang chef d'oeuvre chef d'œuvre chef-d'œuvre

Derived words

autochef 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 cheffer
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on C Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary