scoff

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A derisive or mocking expression of scorn, contempt, or reproach.

   VVith ſcoffes 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.

2. 2
   noun

   An object of scorn, mockery, or derision.

   [T]he scoff of wither'd age and beardless youth […]

3. 3
   verb

   To jeer; to laugh with contempt and derision.

   Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, / And fools who came to scoff, remained to pray.

4. 4
   noun

   The act of eating.

   Lunch for the busy has become a quick scoff of processed, terrifyingly orange couscous, […]

5. 5
   verb

   To eat food quickly.

   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.

6. 6
   noun

   showing your contempt by derision

7. 7
   verb

   treat with contemptuous disregard

8. 8
   verb

   laugh at with contempt and derision

Etymology

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.