scoff

Etymology 1

From Middle English scof, skof, probably of North Germanic origin. Compare Old Norse skaup, Old Danish skof, Old Frisian skof (“insult, shame”), and Old High German scoph.

noun

1. A derisive or mocking expression of scorn, contempt, or reproach.
   There were sneers, and scoffs, and inuendoes of some; prophecies of failure in a hundred ways […] 1852, The Dublin University Magazine, page 66
2. An object of scorn, mockery, or derision.

verb

1. (intransitive) To jeer; to laugh with contempt and derision.
2. (transitive) To mock; to treat with scorn.

Etymology 2

A variant, attested since the mid 19th century, of scaff, of uncertain origin. Compare scarf (“eat quickly”).

noun

1. (Newfoundland, South Africa and British Army slang) Food.
2. (slang) The act of eating.
   Lunch for the busy has become a quick scoff of processed, terrifyingly orange couscous, […] 2016, Fearne Cotton, Cook Happy, Cook Healthy

verb

1. (Britain, Newfoundland, slang) To eat food quickly.
   The numbers thin out the further we get from London, so I don't feel guilty when I remove my mask momentarily to scoff some of the snacks I'd bought at Marylebone. December 2 2020, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68
2. (Newfoundland, South Africa and British Army slang) To eat.