Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also snarvel) to grab, to take possession of.

1943		R. Llewellyn None But the Lonely Heart 21: How they going to pay out if everybody’s hopping in and snarvelling the goods as fast as they can stick their hooks in them?
1985		(con. 1969–70) D. Bodey F.N.G. (1988) 174: I snarf the two meals I know contain peaches and pound cake.
1986		Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 5: snarf – steal, usually small or trivial items: Susan snarfed four straws.
1989		Sydney Morn. Herald Guide 16 Oct. 12S/2: He snarfed years of screen time doing his Dirty Harry impressions.

2. (also snarf up) to eat, to drink; to consume, e.g. a drug; thus snarfer, a (greedy/enthusastic) consumer.

1968		Current Sl. III:1 12: Snarf up, v. To do something rapidly, such as eat or drink.
1984		Dly Sentinel (Woodstock, IL) 26 Oct. 3/1: The operative word in [...] junk-food consumption is snarf. In a fugurative sense you can snarf cigarettes and coffee, too. We’re a generation of snarfer. The baby boomers are the Snarf Generation.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 105/2: snarf gobble up or snaffle food.
1989		A. Vachss Hard Candy (1990) 30: I gave Pansy a quart of vanilla fudge ice cream. She snarfed it down.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 9: Snarf up all the cookies.
1999		J. Stahl Perv (2001) 253: Careful, Handsome, that’s not just marahoochie you’re snarfin’.
2000		M. Manning Get Your Cock Out 46: Mary Magdalene snarfing deep on his dead bone.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].
2004		St Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) 26 July M004/4: Childen who can snarf up their weight in groceries.
2005		Orlando Sentinel (FL) 20 May X26/2: Barbecue good enough to snarf is a rarity.
2015		Lake Co. Jrnl (Grayslake, IL) 7 May 3/1: Her home-baked gourmet snack business Snarf Foods.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 24: Liz [Taylor] snagged a slice of ham and snarfed it.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 370: [I] snarfed Dexedrine.

3. (US campus) in fig. use, to pick someone up.

1968

Current Sl. III:1 12: Snarf, v. To pick up a date (in the bowling alley, at a bar, etc.).

4. to laugh in the middle of drinking (or occas. eating) so that liquid (or occas. food) comes out of one’s nose.

1997–2001

Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 snarf v 1. to expel liquid (or, more rarely, food) out one’s nose by laughing in the middle of a swallow. (‘We were sitting in the kitchen, and JJ cut a nasty muffin, and I snarfed lemonade all over the table.’).