scoff

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English[edit]

WOTD – 14 March 2008

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English scof, skof, probably of North Germanic origin. Compare Old Norse skaup, Old Danish skof, Old Frisian skof (“insult, shame”), and Old High German scoph.

Noun[edit]

scoff (plural scoffs)

  1. A derisive or mocking expression of scorn, contempt, or reproach.
    Synonyms: derision, ridicule; see also Thesaurus:ridicule
    • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene vi], page 100, column 1:
      VVith ſcoffs and ſcornes, and contumelious taunts, / In open Market-place produc't they me, / To be a publique ſpectacle to all: / Here, ſayd they, is the Terror of the French, / The Scar-Crovv that affrights our Children ſo.
    • 1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Church-yard. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC:
      'I believe you've killed that constable in the exercise of his duty, Sir; the man's dead,' said Lowe, sternly. / 'Another gloss on my text; why invade me like housebreakers?' said Dangerfield with a grim scoff.
    • 1852, The Dublin University Magazine, page 66:
      There were sneers, and scoffs, and inuendoes of some; prophecies of failure in a hundred ways […]
  2. An object of scorn, mockery, or derision.
Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

scoff (third-person singular simple present scoffs, present participle scoffing, simple past and past participle scoffed)

  1. (intransitive) To jeer; to laugh with contempt and derision.
    Synonym: sneer
  2. (transitive) To mock; to treat with scorn.
    Synonyms: contemn, deride
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

A variant, attested since the mid 19th century, of scaff, of uncertain origin.[1][2] Compare scarf (“eat quickly”).

Noun[edit]

scoff (countable and uncountable, plural scoffs)

  1. (Newfoundland, South Africa and British Army slang) Food.
  2. (slang) The act of eating.
    • 2016, Fearne Cotton, Cook Happy, Cook Healthy:
      Lunch for the busy has become a quick scoff of processed, terrifyingly orange couscous, […]
Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

scoff (third-person singular simple present scoffs, present participle scoffing, simple past and past participle scoffed)

  1. (UK, Newfoundland, slang) To eat food quickly.
    Synonyms: gobble, (US) scarf
    • 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68:
      The numbers thin out the further we get from London, so I don't feel guilty when I remove my mask momentarily to scoff some of the snacks I'd bought at Marylebone.
  2. (Newfoundland, South Africa and British Army slang) To eat.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
to eat — see eat

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “scoff”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  2. ^ “scoff”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
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