Word.ws English Dictionary

scarf

UK/skɑːf/US/skɑɹf/

scarf noun: a long, often knitted, garment worn around the neck. Also the archaic form of scurf.

scarf: a long, often knitted, garment worn around the neck
Image: https:/, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

scarf (plural scarves or 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. (dated) A neckcloth or cravat.

Verb (1)

scarf (third-person singular simple present scarfs, present participle scarfing, simple past and past participle scarfed)

  1. (transitive) To 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...
  2. (transitive) To dress with a scarf, or as with a scarf; to cover with a loose wrapping.
    • She scarfed her head.
    • 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. (transitive) To cover as or like a scarf.
    • A cowl scarfed her shoulders.
    • 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

Noun (2)

scarf (plural scarfs)

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

Verb (2)

scarf (third-person singular simple present scarfs, present participle scarfing, simple past and past participle scarfed)

  1. (transitive) To shape by grinding or oxyfuel torch cutting.
  2. (transitive) To 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. (transitive) To unite, as two pieces of timber or metal, by a scarf joint.

Verb (3)

scarf (third-person singular simple present scarfs, present participle scarfing, simple past and past participle scarfed)

  1. (US, slang, transitive) To eat very quickly.
    • You sure scarfed that pizza.
    • 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

Noun (3)

scarf (plural scarfs)

  1. (Scotland, transitive) A cormorant.

Also used as

scarf is also the archaic form of scurf.

scarf meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

scarf in Hindi

long garment worn around the neck
दुपट्टा dupaṭṭā, स्कार्फ़ skārf

scarf in Tamil

ஸ்கார்ஃப், ஸ்கார்ப்

scarf in Marathi

स्कार्फ, स्कार्फ करणे

scarf in Urdu

long garment worn around the neck
سْکارْف skārf, دُوپَٹَّہ dūpaṭṭa
More languagesFewer languages
scarf in Bengali
স্কার্ফ skarpho
scarf in Telugu
స్కార్ఫ్
scarf in Malayalam
സ്കാർഫ്, സ്കാര്ഫ്, സ്കാർഫ് ചെയ്യാൻ
scarf in Kannada
ಸ್ಕಾರ್ಫ್
scarf in Punjabi
ਸਕਾਰਫ਼, ਸਕਾਰਫ
scarf in Gujarati
સ્કાર્ફ, સ્કેર્ફ, સ્કાર્ફની
scarf in Odia
ସ୍କାର୍ଫ, ସ୍କାର୍ଫ୍, ସ୍କାର୍ଫ କରିବା
scarf in Nepali
स्कार्फ, स्कार्फ गर्न, स्कार्फमा
scarf in Arabic
وِشَاح wišāḥ, لِفاع lifāʕ
scarf in Malay
skaf
scarf in Indonesian
syal, selempang leher
scarf in Thai
ผ้าพันคอ pâa-pan-kɔɔ
scarf in Vietnamese
khăn choàng cổ, khăn quàng cổ, khăn quàng
scarf in Myanmar
လည်စည်းပဝါ lanycany:pa.wa

Examples of scarf in a sentence

  • 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:
  • 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...

All 40 example sentences with scarf

Synonyms of scarf

Forms of scarf

Noun
pluralscarves
pluralscarfs
alternative formscart
alternative formskart
Verb
third-person singular presentscarfs
present participlescarfing
past participlescarfed
pastscarfed
alternative formscarve

Plural of scarf: scarves or scarfs

Origin of scarf

Probably from Old Northern French escarpe (compare Old French escharpe (“pilgrim's purse suspended from the neck”), which see). The verb is derived from the noun. Doublet of scrip.

Of uncertain origin. Possibly from Old Norse skarfr, derivative of skera (“to cut”).

Generally thought to be a variant, attested since the 1950s, of scoff (“eat (quickly)”) (of which scorf is another attested variant), itself a variant of scaff. Sometimes alternatively suggested to be a dialectal survival of Old English scearfian, sceorfan (“gnaw, bite”) (compare scurf).

Words formed from scarf

Phrases with scarf

Words that rhyme with scarf

Questions about scarf

What does scarf mean?
Scarf means a long, often knitted, garment worn around the neck.
What is scarf in Hindi?
Scarf in Hindi is दुपट्टा (dupaṭṭā), स्कार्फ़ (skārf). See Scarf meaning in Hindi.
How do you use scarf in a sentence?
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.
What part of speech is scarf?
Scarf can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce scarf?
Scarf is pronounced /skɑːf/ (UK).
What is the plural of scarf?
The plural of scarf is scarves.

Words near scarf in the dictionary

  1. scaresomely
  2. scarest
  3. scareth
  4. scareware
  5. scarey
  6. scarf
  7. scarf and barf
  8. scarf down
  9. SCARF syndrome
  10. scarf up
  11. scarf-skin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: scarf (page history and authors); scarf (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); scarf (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); scarf (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); scarf (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); scarf (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); scarf (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); scarf (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); scarf (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); scarf (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-scarf.ogg.

Cite this entry: “scarf.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/scarf. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.