chef

Etymology

Borrowed 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”) (English cap (“head covering”)), from Proto-Indo-European *kauput- (English head). Doublet of chief and caput.

noun

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.
3. Any cook.
   My husband 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.

verb

1. (stative, informal) 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
   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
2. (MLE, transitive) To stab with a knife, to shank.
   Still on my knife work chef him up with that rambo 2016, “Skeng Man”, ASAP of 67 (lyrics)
   He got cheffed in the A in the head 2018-08-09, “Pallance 2.0”, Taze of SMG (lyrics)
   Third time he was out of luck 2018-08-16, “Ks On Who”, Sav12 of 12World (lyrics)