scoff
1- 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.
- to mock at; deride.
- an expression of mockery, derision, doubt, or derisive scorn; jeer.
- an object of mockery or derision.
Origin of scoff
1Synonyms for scoff
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms for scoff
scoff
2- to eat voraciously.
- food; grub.
Origin of scoff
2Related Words for scoffing
sneering, caustic, sharp, acid, scorching, offensive, corrosive, bitter, evil, disparaging, mocking, cutting, carping, hostile, disillusioned, jeering, biting, mordant, backhanded, meanExamples from the Web for scoffing
Contemporary Examples of scoffing
“People were telling horrendous stories and he was laughing in his box and scoffing,” she says.
Historical Examples of scoffing
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
scoff
1- (intr often foll by at) to speak contemptuously (about); express derision (for); mock
- (tr) obsolete to regard with derision
- an expression of derision
- an object of derision
Word Origin for scoff
scoff
2- to eat (food) fast and greedily; devour
- food or rations
Word Origin for scoff
Word Origin and History for scoffing
scoff
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.)).