snarf

American

[snahrf] / snɑrf /

verb (used with object)

Slang.

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

snarf British

/ snɑːf /

verb

informal to eat or drink greedily

"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

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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

As chatbot developers snarf up more content to “train” their products, the potential copyright claims are only going to multiply.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 16, 2024

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

To snarf, with the connotation of absorbing, processing, or understanding.

From The Jargon File, Version 4.2.2, 20 Aug 2000 by Steele, Guy L.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023