different between scarf vs cloth

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sk??f/
• (US) IPA^(key): /sk???f/
• Rhymes: -??(?)f

Etymology 1

Probably from Old Northern French escarpe (compare Old French escharpe (“pilgrim's purse suspended from the neck”)). The verb is derived from the noun. Doublet of scrip.

Noun

scarf (plural scarves or scarfs)

1. A long, often knitted, garment worn around the neck.
2. A headscarf.
3. (dated) A neckcloth or cravat.

Derived terms

• infinity scarf
• Möbius scarf

Descendants

• ? Welsh: sgarff

Translations

Verb

scarf (third-person singular simple present scarfs, present participle scarfing, simple past and past participle scarfed)

1. To throw on loosely; to put on like a scarf.
   • 1599-1601, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 2:

     My sea-gown scarfed about me.

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

Etymology 2

Of uncertain origin. Possibly from Old Norse skarfr, derivative of skera (“to cut”).

Noun

scarf (plural scarfs)

1. A type of joint in woodworking.
2. A groove on one side of a sewing machine needle.
3. A dip or notch or cut made in the trunk of a tree to direct its fall when felling.

Synonyms

• muffler

Translations

Verb

scarf (third-person singular simple present scarfs, present participle scarfing, simple past and past participle scarfed)

1. To shape by grinding.
2. 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.
3. To unite, as two pieces of timber or metal, by a scarf joint.

Etymology 3

Generally thought to be a variant, attested since the 1950s, of scoff (“eat (quickly)”) (of which scorf is another attested variant), itself a variant of scaff. Sometimes alternatively suggested to be a dialectal survival of Old English scearfian, sceorfan (“gnaw, bite”) (compare scurf).

Verb

scarf (third-person singular simple present scarfs, present participle scarfing, simple past and past participle scarfed)

1. (transitive, US, slang) To eat very quickly.

   Synonym: (UK) scoff

Derived terms

• scarf down

Translations

Etymology 4

From Old Norse skarfr.

Noun

scarf (plural scarfs)

1. (Scotland) A cormorant.

References

• scarf in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• carfs, fracs

Old High German

Alternative forms

• scarph

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *skarpaz, whence also Old Saxon skarp, Old English scearp, Old Norse skarpr. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerb-, from *(s)ker- (“to cut”).

Adjective

scarf

1. sharp

Descendants

• Middle High German: scharpf
  • Alemannic German: scharpf
  • Bavarian: scharf
  • Central Franconian: schärp, scharp
  • German: scharf
  • Hunsrik: schaaref
  • Luxembourgish: schaarf
  • Yiddish: ?????? (sharf)

English

Alternative forms

• cloath (obsolete)
• clath, clathe, claith (Scotland)

Etymology

From Middle English cloth, clath, from Old English cl?þ (“cloth, clothes, covering, sail”), from Proto-Germanic *klaiþ? (“garment”), from Proto-Indo-European *gleyt- (“to cling to, cleave, stick”). Cognate with Scots clath (“cloth”), North Frisian klaid (“dress, garment”), Saterland Frisian Klood (“dress, apparel”), West Frisian kleed (“cloth, article of clothing”), Dutch kleed (“robe, dress”), Low German kleed (“dress, garment”), German Kleid (“gown, dress”), Danish klæde (“cloth, dress”), Norwegian klede, Swedish kläde (“cloth”), Icelandic klæði (“cloth, dressing”), Old English cl?þan (“to adhere, stick”). Compare Albanian ngjit (“to stick, attach, glue”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kl?th, IPA^(key): /kl??/
• (Conservative RP) enPR: klôth, IPA^(key): /kl???/
• (General American) enPR: klôth, IPA^(key): /kl??/
• (cot–caught merger, Canada) enPR: kl?th, IPA^(key): /kl??/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /klo??/, enPR: kl?th
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

cloth (countable and uncountable, plural cloths)

1. (countable, uncountable) A woven fabric such as used in dressing, decorating, cleaning or other practical use.
2. Specifically, a tablecloth, especially as spread before a meal or removed afterwards.
   • 1796–7, Mary Wollstonecraft, The Wrongs of Woman, Oxford 2009, p. 142:

     One day he came, as I thought accidentally, to dinner. My husband was very much engaged in business, and quitted the room soon after the cloth was removed.

3. (countable) A piece of cloth used for a particular purpose.
4. (metaphoric) Substance or essence; the whole of something complex.
5. (metaphoric) Appearance; seeming.
6. A form of attire that represents a particular profession or status.
7. (in idioms) Priesthood, clergy.

Synonyms

• (woven fabric): material, stuff
• See also Thesaurus:fabric

Derived terms

Related terms

• clothe, clothes, clothing

Translations

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish cloth, from Proto-Celtic *klutom (compare Welsh clod), nominalization of Proto-Indo-European *?lutós (“famous”), from Proto-Indo-European *?lew- (“to hear”). Cognate with Ancient Greek ?????? (klutós, “famous”), Sanskrit ????? (?ruta, “famous”), and English loud.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kl??(h)/

Noun

cloth m (genitive singular cloith, nominative plural cloith) (literary)

1. fame, honor
2. reputation

Declension

Mutation

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “cloth”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• “clo?” in Foclóir Gae?ilge agus Béarla, Irish Texts Society, 2nd ed., 1927, by Patrick S. Dinneen.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• clothe, clooth, clath, clathe, cloþ, cloþe, clooþ, claþ, claþe, cloð, clað, kloth, klathe, clot?, cloyth, kloyt

Etymology

From Old English cl?þ, from Proto-Germanic *klaiþ?.

Pronunciation

• (Early ME, Northern ME) IPA^(key): /kl???/
• IPA^(key): /kl???/

Noun

cloth (plural clothes or close)

2. Cloth; fabric or an individual piece of it, especially made by weaving:
   1. Table linen; a decorative cloth for the table.
   2. A blanket or sheet; bed linen.
   3. An ornamental cloth or carpet with fine detailing.
   4. A specific standard length or area of cloth.
   5. A cloth used to filter or sieve unwanted materials (usually in the kitchen).
   1. The cloth babies are wrapped in; babywear.
3. (often in the plural) An item of clothes; a garment; something to be worn.
4. Clothes, apparel; what is worn.
5. (Late Middle English) A bodily tissue or layer.
6. (Late Middle English, rare) An illness or medical condition evident from boils.

Derived terms

• bordcloth
• clothen
• clother
• clothing
• clothles

Descendants

• English: cloth
• Scots: clath, clathe, claith

References

• “cl?th, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-26.

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *klutom (compare Welsh clod), nominalization of Proto-Indo-European *?lutós (“famous”), from Proto-Indo-European *?lew- (“to hear”). Cognate with Ancient Greek ?????? (klutós, “famous”), Sanskrit ????? (?ruta, “famous”), and English loud.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klo?/

Noun

cloth n (genitive cluith, nominative plural clotha)

1. fame, honor
2. reputation

Declension

Descendants

• Irish: cloth

Mutation

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “cloth”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language