scoff2 /skôf skäf / ‹informal› I. verb — [with obj.] 1. eat (something) quickly and greedily • she scoffed down several chops • a lizard scoffing up insects. Compare with scarf3. II. noun food. – origin late 18th cent. (as a verb): originally a variant of Scots and dialect scaff. The noun is from Afrikaans schoff, representing Dutch schoft ‘quarter of a day,’ (by extension) ‘meal.’
