What Does Scoff Mean?

To scoff is a verb which means to jeer or to laugh at with contempt and derision. In other word to scoff means to show someone contempt by deriding him or her or to treat with contemptuous disregard. In other words, to scoff at someone is to mock him or her or to treat him or her in a derogatory manner or with derision.

Another word for the word scoff is scorn. The past tense of the verb to scoff is scoffed, the present continuous tense form of the verb to scoff is scoffing and the second person singular form of the verb, used with the pronouns him or her, is the word scoffs.

The word scoff is derived from the Middle English word scoffen, which is, in turn, derived from the word scof. It means mockery. The root word is probably believed to have originated from one of the Scandinavian languages. It is believed to be of a similar meaning to the skof, which is the Danish word, meaning jest and teasing. A person who scoffs is known as a scoffer. The word scoffer is a noun and the word scoffingly is an adverb. To scoff also means to eat food quickly and greedily.

Scoff according to the oxford dictionary literally means to talk about in a way that makes it clear that you think they are stupid or ridiculous. An example would be "he scoffed at your amateurish attempts." Another example would be "Don't scoff she is absolutely right".

The oxford also states another meaning to this word, where it means; to eat a lot of stuff quickly. An example with a sentence would be "who scoffed all the grapes?"

Some sources claim that this meaning could also be to mock someone or even treat them in some kind of disparaging manner. The word also refers to the name of a song that was sung by the grunge band, Nirvana. This song was written by Kurt Cobain.