scarf

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A long, often knitted, garment worn around the neck.

   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.

2. 2
   verb

   To throw on loosely; to put on like a scarf.

   Vp from my Cabin, / My ſea-gowne scarft about me in the darke / Gropt I to find out them, […]

3. 3
   verb

   To dress with a scarf, or as with a scarf; to cover with a loose wrapping.

   She scarfed her head.

4. 4
   verb

   To cover as or like a scarf.

   A cowl scarfed her shoulders.

5. 5
   verb

   To eat very quickly.

   You sure scarfed that pizza.

6. 6
   noun

   a garment worn around the head or neck or shoulders for warmth or decoration

7. 7
   noun

   a joint made by notching the ends of two pieces of timber or metal so that they will lock together end-to-end

8. 8
   verb

   wrap in or adorn with a scarf

Etymology

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. Sometimes alternatively suggested to be a dialectal survival of Old English scearfian, sceorfan (“gnaw, bite”) (compare scurf).