chaff
1] a stalk of grain from which the kernels have been beaten out
2] straw broken up by a threshing machine, chaff
derivation: perhaps remotely from cheo (to shed forth) http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Greek/grk.cgi?number=892&version=kjv

Comments:
Definition 1] includes the bare stalk (the straw) in addition to the empty husks. In modern usage, the word "chaff" is properly restricted to the empty husks and the word "straw" to the stems. The word "chaff" apparently included both the empty husks and the bare stems in the ancient usage.
Definition 2] would seem to be a modern definition because there were no self-powered self-propelled threshing machines in the time of Jesus. The only powers, besides man-power, were the wind and the oxen.

Related topics: floor, threshing, tribulation

A link to each occurrence of this word in the homepage:
1] chaff