snarf

American  

[snahrf] / snɑrf /

verb (used with object)

Slang.

1. to eat quickly and voraciously; scarf (often followed by down orup ).

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snarf British  

/ snɑːf /

verb

1. informal to eat or drink greedily

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Etymology

Origin of snarf

First recorded in 1965–70; of uncertain origin; possibly a combination of snort ( def. ) and scarf ²; possibly onomatopoeic

Example Sentences

Instead, they continue to snarf up lavish compensation as figureheads.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 20, 2023

Chrome is slow, a memory hog, and has been known to snarf up users’ private search data for the company’s purposes.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 2, 2023

What Amazon does know about is how to snarf up personal data from its customers and exploit it for profit.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 18, 2022

After all, they have not had years of exposure to the God-awful things that pets routinely snarf down.

From New York Times • Jun. 14, 2021

In the late 1960s, this was a mainstream expression for an `eat now, regret it later' cheap-restaurant expedition. :snarf down: /v./

From The Jargon File, Version 4.0.0, 24 Jul 1996 by Raymond, Eric S.