scarf
pronunciation
How to pronounce scarf in British English:
UK [skɑːf]
How to pronounce scarf in American English:
US [skɑːrf]
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- Noun:
- a garment worn around the head or neck or shoulders for warmth or decoration
- a joint made by notching the ends of two pieces of timber or metal so that they will lock together end-to-end
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- Verb:
- masturbate while strangling oneself
- unite by a scarf joint
- wrap in or adorn with a scarf
Word Origin
- scarf
- scarf: English has two words scarf. The older, but now less frequent, is ‘joint between two pieces of wood’ [14]. This may have been borrowed from an Old French *escarf, which itself was possibly based ultimately on a Scandinavian source (Swedish has skarf ‘joint between pieces of wood’). The scarf that is worn [16] comes from Old Northern French escarpe. This was equivalent to central Old French escarpe, escherpe, which originally denoted a ‘pilgrim’s bag hung round the neck’. It came via a Frankish *skirpja from Latin scirpea ‘basket made from rushes’, a derivative of scirpus ‘rush’.
- scarf (v.)
- "eat hastily," 1960, U.S. teen slang, originally a noun meaning "food, meal" (1932), perhaps imitative, or from scoff (attested in a similar sense from 1846). Or perhaps from a dialectal survival of Old English sceorfan "to gnaw, bite" (see scarf (n.2)); a similar word is found in a South African context in the 1600s. Related: Scarfed; scarfing.
- scarf (n.1)
- "band of silk, strip of cloth," 1550s, "a band worn across the body or over the shoulders," probably from Old North French escarpe "sash, sling," which probably is identical with Old French escherpe "pilgrim's purse suspended from the neck," perhaps from Frankish *skirpja or some other Germanic source (compare Old Norse skreppa "small bag, wallet, satchel"), or from Medieval Latin scirpa "little bag woven of rushes," from Latin scirpus "rush, bulrush," of unknown origin [Klein]. As a cold-weather covering for the neck, first recorded 1844. Plural scarfs began to yield to scarves early 18c., on model of half/halves, etc.
- scarf (n.2)
- "connecting joint," late 13c., probably from a Scandinavian source (such as Old Norse skarfr "nail for fastening a joint," Swedish skarf, Norwegian skarv). A general North Sea Germanic ship-building word (compare Dutch scherf), the exact relationship of all these is unclear. Also borrowed into Romanic (French écart, Spanish escarba); perhaps ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skarfaz (cognates: Old English sceorfan "to gnaw, bite"), from PIE *(s)ker- (1) "to cut" (see shear (v.)). Also used as a verb.
Example
- 1. I make a note to ask him about that scarf .
- 2. I hastily repinned my scarf .
- 3. He showed me a photograph of himself in costume : a cocked hat , a mustard-colored scarf of flax .
- 4. Look at the lovely scarf !
- 5. To warm the air before you breathe it , use a scarf or mask .