# scoff
## English
### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /skɒf/
* (US) IPA: /skɔːf/
* (cot–caught merger) IPA: /skɑːf/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɒf

### Etymology 1

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

scoff (plural scoffs)
* 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 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.
** 1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “The Wher-wolf”, in The House by the Church-yard. […], volume III, London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 200:"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 house-breakers?" 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 […]
* An object of scorn, mockery, or derision.
** 1782, William Cowper, “Hope”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC:[T]he scoff of wither'd age and beardless youth […]

##### Translations
#### Verb

scoff (third-person singular simple present scoffs, present participle scoffing, simple past and past participle scoffed)
* (intransitive) To jeer; to laugh with contempt and derision.
    Synonym: sneer
** 1770, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, a Poem, London: […] W[illiam] Griffin, […], →OCLC:Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, / And fools who came to scoff, remained to pray.
* (transitive) To mock; to treat with scorn.
    Synonyms: contemn, deride

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

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

#### Noun

scoff (countable and uncountable, plural scoffs)
* (Newfoundland, South Africa and British Army slang) Food.
* (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
#### Verb

scoff (third-person singular simple present scoffs, present participle scoffing, simple past and past participle scoffed)
* (British, 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.
* (Newfoundland, South Africa and British Army slang) To eat.

##### Derived terms

* scoff down

##### Translations
### See also

* scuff

### References

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