scarf

English

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /skɑːf/
  • (US) IPA(key): /skɑːɹf/
  • Audio (General Australian):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)f

Etymology 1

Probably from Old Northern French escarpe (compare Old French escharpe (“pilgrim's purse suspended from the neck”), which see). The verb is derived from the noun. Doublet of scrip.

Noun

scarf (plural scarves or scarfs)

  2. A long, often knitted, garment worn around the neck.
    Hypernym: garment
    Hyponyms: muffler, Ascot scarf, Palestinian scarf, pioneer scarf, red scarf
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
      Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety.  She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet.
  3. A headscarf.
  4. (dated) A neckcloth or cravat.
Derived terms
Descendants
  • → Irish: scairf, scaif
  • → Welsh: sgarff
Translations

Verb

scarf (third-person singular simple present scarfs, present participle scarfing, simple past and past participle scarfed) (transitive)

  1. To throw on loosely; to put on like a scarf.
  2. To dress with a scarf, or as with a scarf; to cover with a loose wrapping.
    She scarfed her head.
    • 1994, Arthur Johnson, “Chinese Arithmetic”, in Tony Grima, editor, Not the Only One: Lesbian and Gay Fiction for Teens, Boston, Mass.: Alyson Publications, published January 1995, →ISBN, page 144:
      The back of her tan trenchcoat swished from left to right as she scarfed her head and disappeared into the dusk.
  3. To cover as or like a scarf.
    A cowl scarfed her shoulders.
    • 1999, Isolde Martyn, chapter 12, in The Knight and the Rose, Sydney, N.S.W.: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 125:
      She was trying to keep the silken veil scarfing her shoulders in order.
    • 2006, Jim Younger, chapter 21, in High John the Conqueror, London: Vintage Books, published 2007, →ISBN, section 1, page 276:
      Transfixed on the smaller branches, intensely black against the moon, were organs harvested from the body cavity – heart, spleen, kidneys and liver. […] A length of slippery bowel scarfed my neck.
    • 2011, Falling Rain [pseudonym], “Fire on the Sacred Land”, in Ouroboros: Road of Legend, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 169:
      A large red ribbon scarfed her neck and seemed to have its own strange glow of the same hue.
Alternative forms

Etymology 2

Of uncertain origin. Possibly from Old Norse skarfr, derivative of skera (“to cut”).

Noun

scarf (plural scarfs)

  1. A type of joint in woodworking, formed by two shaped ends that fit into or onto each other.
  2. A groove on one side of a sewing machine needle.
  3. A dip or notch or cut made in the trunk of a tree to direct its fall when felling.
Translations

Verb

scarf (third-person singular simple present scarfs, present participle scarfing, simple past and past participle scarfed)

  1. To shape by grinding or oxyfuel torch cutting.
  2. To form a scarf on the end or edge of, as for a joint in timber, forming a "V" groove for welding adjacent metal plates, metal rods, etc.
  3. To unite, as two pieces of timber or metal, by a scarf joint.
Derived terms

Etymology 3

Generally thought to be a variant, attested since the 1950s, of scoff (“eat (quickly)”) (of which scorf is another attested variant), itself a variant of scaff.[1][2] Sometimes alternatively suggested to be a dialectal survival of Old English scearfian, sceorfan (“gnaw, bite”) (compare scurf).[3]

Verb

scarf (third-person singular simple present scarfs, present participle scarfing, simple past and past participle scarfed)

  1. (transitive, US, slang) To eat very quickly.
    Synonyms: scarf down, scarf up, (UK) scoff, guzzle
    You sure scarfed that pizza.
    • 1983, Raymond Carver, Cathedral:
      We dug in. We ate everything there was to eat on the table. We ate like there was no tomorrow. We didn't talk. We ate. We scarfed. We grazed that table. We were into serious eating. We finished everything, including half a strawberry pie.
    • 2015 December 11, Lara Bazelon, “Who Said ‘Game of Thrones’ Wasn’t for Kids?”, in The New York Times‎[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 December 2015:
      Me: scarfing my daughter’s macaroni and cheese, now chilly, over the sink while halfheartedly rinsing dishes.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 4

From Old Norse skarfr.

Noun

scarf (plural scarfs)

  1. (Scotland) A cormorant.
Alternative forms

Etymology 5

Noun

scarf (countable and uncountable, plural scarfs)

  1. Archaic form of scurf (“skin disease; skin flakes”).

References

  1. ^ “scarf”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  2. ^ “scarf”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  3. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “scarf”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

Old High German

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *skarp, see also Old Saxon skarp, Old English scearp, Old Norse skarpr.

Adjective

scarf

  1. sharp

Descendants

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