scarf

plural scarves · plural scarfs

1. 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.

   1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

2. A headscarf.
3. datedA neckcloth or cravat.

present singular third person scarfs · participle present scarfing · participle past scarfed · past scarfed · alternative scarve

1. transitiveTo 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, […]

   c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], signature N, recto

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

   She scarfed her head.

   1 more example

   The back of her tan trenchcoat swished from left to right as she scarfed her head and disappeared into the dusk.

   1994, Arthur Johnson, “Chinese Arithmetic”, in Tony Grima, editor, Not the Only One: Lesbian and Gay Fiction for Teens, Boston, Mass.: Alyson Publications, published January 1995, →ISBN, page 144

3. transitiveTo cover as or like a scarf.

   A cowl scarfed her shoulders.

   3 more examples

   She was trying to keep the silken veil scarfing her shoulders in order.

   1999, Isolde Martyn, chapter 12, in The Knight and the Rose, Sydney, N.S.W.: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 125

   Transfixed on the smaller branches, intensely black against the moon, were organs harvested from the body cavity – heart, spleen, kidneys and liver. […] A length of slippery bowel scarfed my neck.

   2006, Jim Younger, chapter 21, in High John the Conqueror, London: Vintage Books, published 2007, →ISBN, section 1, page 276

   A large red ribbon scarfed her neck and seemed to have its own strange glow of the same hue.

   2011, Falling Rain [pseudonym], “Fire on the Sacred Land”, in Ouroboros: Road of Legend, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 169

plural scarfs

1. transitiveA type of joint in woodworking, formed by two shaped ends that fit into or onto each other.
2. transitiveA groove on one side of a sewing machine needle.
3. transitiveA dip or notch or cut made in the trunk of a tree to direct its fall when felling.

present singular third person scarfs · participle present scarfing · participle past scarfed · past scarfed

1. transitiveTo shape by grinding or oxyfuel torch cutting.
2. transitiveTo form a scarf on the end or edge of, as for a joint in timber, forming a "V" groove for welding adjacent metal plates, metal rods, etc.
3. transitiveTo unite, as two pieces of timber or metal, by a scarf joint.

present singular third person scarfs · participle present scarfing · participle past scarfed · past scarfed

1. USslangtransitiveTo eat very quickly.

   You sure scarfed that pizza.

   2 more examples

   We dug in. We ate everything there was to eat on the table. We ate like there was no tomorrow. We didn't talk. We ate. We scarfed. We grazed that table. We were into serious eating. We finished everything, including half a strawberry pie.

   1983, Raymond Carver, Cathedral

   Me: scarfing my daughter’s macaroni and cheese, now chilly, over the sink while halfheartedly rinsing dishes.

   2015 December 11, Lara Bazelon, “Who Said ‘Game of Thrones’ Wasn’t for Kids?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 Dec 2015

   Synonyms: scarf down, scarf up, scoff, guzzle

plural scarfs · alternative scart · alternative skart

1. ScotlandtransitiveA cormorant.

plural scarfs

1. archaiccountabletransitiveuncountableArchaic form of scurf (“skin disease; skin flakes”).