Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US, also scorf (up)) to eat, esp. to gobble up, to eat aggressively.

1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. 221: scorf to eat voraciously.
1865		Potter Jrnl & News (Coudersport, PA) 19 Apr. 1/5: Lucy [...] scorfed the pie directly.
1873		Sl. Dict. [as cit. 1864].
1904		Sporting Times 18 June 1/5: I scorfed down [...] the four biled eggs.
1905		Marvel III:53 3: The Demon comes on all covered in brimstone and blue flames, and is goin’ ter scorf up all the bloomin’ village.
1926		Maines & Grant Wise-crack Dict. 14/1: Scorf – To eat.
1938		Reading (PA) Eagle 20 Mar. 7/3: If you’re hungry and decide to go out to eat, you’re ‘scauffin’ it up’.
1944		D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 102: It’s finer than the beans you scarf in the Navy!
1954		‘Hepster’s Dict.’ Mad mag. June 20: scarf – eat.
1965		H. Rhodes Chosen Few (1966) 58: Come on, let’s go scarf.
1969		Current Sl. III:3 10: Scarf up, v. To eat quickly; to gulp food.
1974		(con. 1940s) E. Thompson Tattoo (1977) 220: He skarfed the hamburger and the drink.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 17: Rock band managers [...] scarfing up brown rice and veggies.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 20: I scarfed my last burger.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 84: She scarfed a bowl of Cap’n Crunch.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 77: Jug Up To eat a prison meal […] (Archaic: Chuck, graze, scorf).
1998		(con. 1986) G. Pelecanos Sweet Forever 119: He watched Anthony scarf down the rest of his food.
2000		Guardian Travel 15 Jan. 12: I [...] scarfed down the lot – utterly delicious.
2006		I. Rankin Naming of the Dead ( 2007) 485: Ironically [...] given the amount of painkillers he’d scarfed, the first thing he complained of was a thumping headache.
2013		D. Whish-Wilson Zero at the Bone [ebook] Already a couple of beat coppers [...] had come by and been fed by the back door, scarfing down their free lasagne and middies of beer.

2. (US campus) to pilfer, to steal.

1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 188: Scarf up Take someone else’s date away.
1975		G. Underwood ‘Razorback Sl.’ in AS L:1/2 65: scarfvt [...] 2: Steal.
1989		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 7: scarf – take, steal. ‘He scarfed it from his roommate.’.

3. (US) to perform cunnilingus.

1967

Reynolds & McClure Freewheelin Frank 7: He used to brag how he liked to scarf pussy [...] he thought I was a pretty good one at scarfin it too.

4. (US campus) to throw away, to abandon.

1975

G. Underwood ‘Razorback Sl.’ in AS L:1/2 65: scarf vt 1: Discard, throw away.

5. to consume, esp. in an aggressive manner.

1970		Current Sl. V:1 21: Scarf (up) v. To indulge in zealously.
1978		A. Maupin Tales of the City (1984) 65: I’ve got a date tonight. Otherwise I’d be scarfing up on a sure thing.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 37: The doomed old men who scarf them up are the saddest things I’ve ever seen.
1999		Indep. Rev. 21 May 14: Scarf up the sonics.

6. (US gay) to fellate or perform cunnilingus.

1966		R. Giallombardo Gloss. in Study of a Women’s Prison 207: Scarf. Oral stimulation of the genitalia.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.

7. (US campus) to borrow.

1983

Eble Campus Sl. Nov. 4: scarf – to take or borrow: Can I scarf $5 from you?

8. to obtain, to get hold of.

1995		J. Stahl Permanent Midnight 78: I’d managed to scarf up half-a-dozen scarce-as-worms’-teeth loads.
2013		J. Stahl Happy Mutant Baby Pills 103: Had it been, I wouldn’t have been scarfing motel dope crumbs from the likes of Harold.