scarf

noun

1. A long, often knitted, garment worn around the neck.

   “Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety. She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet.”

2. A headscarf.
3. (dated)A neckcloth or cravat.
4. (transitive)A type of joint in woodworking, formed by two shaped ends that fit into or onto each other.
5. (transitive)A groove on one side of a sewing machine needle.
6. (transitive)A dip or notch or cut made in the trunk of a tree to direct its fall when felling.
7. (Scotland, transitive)A cormorant.
8. (alt-of, archaic, countable, transitive, uncountable)Archaic form of scurf (“skin disease; skin flakes”).

verb

1. (transitive)To throw on loosely; to put on like a scarf.

   “Vp from my Cabin, / My ſea-gowne scarft about me in the darke / Gropt I to find out them, […]”

2. (transitive)To dress with a scarf, or as with a scarf; to cover with a loose wrapping.

   “She scarfed her head.”

   “The back of her tan trenchcoat swished from left to right as she scarfed her head and disappeared into the dusk.”

3. (transitive)To cover as or like a scarf.

   “A cowl scarfed her shoulders.”

   “She was trying to keep the silken veil scarfing her shoulders in order.”

   “Transfixed on the smaller branches, intensely black against the moon, were organs harvested from the body cavity – heart, spleen, kidneys and liver. […] A length of slippery bowel scarfed my neck.”

   “A large red ribbon scarfed her neck and seemed to have its own strange glow of the same hue.”

4. (transitive)To shape by grinding or oxyfuel torch cutting.
5. (transitive)To form a scarf on the end or edge of, as for a joint in timber, forming a "V" groove for welding adjacent metal plates, metal rods, etc.
6. (transitive)To unite, as two pieces of timber or metal, by a scarf joint.
7. (US, slang, transitive)To eat very quickly.

   “You sure scarfed that pizza.”

   “We dug in. We ate everything there was to eat on the table. We ate like there was no tomorrow. We didn't talk. We ate. We scarfed. We grazed that table. We were into serious eating. We finished everything, including half a strawberry pie.”

   “Me: scarfing my daughter’s macaroni and cheese, now chilly, over the sink while halfheartedly rinsing dishes.”