scoff1
[skawf, skof]
- to speak derisively; mock; jeer (often followed by at): If you can't do any better, don't scoff. Their efforts toward a peaceful settlement are not to be scoffed at.
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- to mock at; deride.
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- an expression of mockery, derision, doubt, or derisive scorn; jeer.
- an object of mockery or derision.
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Origin of scoff1
1300–50; Middle English scof; origin uncertain, but compare Old Norse skopa to scorn
Synonyms
See more synonyms for scoff on Thesaurus.com1. gibe. Scoff, jeer, sneer imply behaving with scornful disapproval toward someone or about something. To scoff is to express insolent doubt or derision, openly and emphatically: to scoff at a new invention. To jeer suggests expressing disapproval and scorn more loudly, coarsely, and unintelligently than in scoffing: The crowd jeered when the batter struck out. To sneer is to show by facial expression or tone of voice ill-natured contempt or disparagement: He sneered unpleasantly in referring to his opponent's misfortunes.
Antonyms
3. praise.
scoff2
[skawf, skof]Slang.
- to eat voraciously.
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- food; grub.
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Origin of scoff2
First recorded in 1855–60; earlier scaff; origin uncertain
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for scoffing
Contemporary Examples
“People were telling horrendous stories and he was laughing in his box and scoffing,” she says.
Historical Examples
Miss Howes scoffed, it is true, but the scoffing was not convincing.
Thankful's InheritanceJoseph C. Lincoln
A score of stories in proof were hurled at the scoffing Maimon.
Dreamers of the GhettoI. Zangwill
Just that I was wrong; and I admit freely that I was wrong in scoffing at the propinquity.
Masters of SpaceEdward Elmer Smith
Scholar Phelps was too close to the truth to make me like it, because he was scoffing.
Highways in HidingGeorge Oliver Smith
How then will scoffing readers scape this marke of a maledizant?
Shakespeare's Lost Years in London, 1586-1592Arthur Acheson
scoff1
- (intr often foll by at) to speak contemptuously (about); express derision (for); mock
- (tr) obsolete to regard with derision
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- an expression of derision
- an object of derision
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Word Origin
C14: probably from Scandinavian; compare Old Frisian skof mockery, Danish skof, skuf jest
scoff2
- to eat (food) fast and greedily; devour
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- food or rations
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Word Origin
C19: variant of scaff food; related to Afrikaans, Dutch schoft quarter of the day, one of the four daily meals
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for scoffing
scoff
v.
mid-14c., "jest, make light of something;" mid-15c., "make fun of, mock," from the noun meaning "contemptuous ridicule" (c.1300), from a Scandinavian source, cf. Old Norse skaup, skop "mockery, ridicule," Middle Danish skof "jest, mockery;" perhaps from Proto-Germanic *skub-, *skuf- (cf. Old English scop "poet," Old High German scoph "fiction, sport, jest, derision"), from PIE *skeubh- "to shove" (see shove (v.)).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper