Advertisement

scoff (v.)

mid-14c., "jest, make light of something;" mid-15c., "make fun of, mock," from the noun meaning "contemptuous ridicule" (c. 1300), from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse skaup, skop "mockery, ridicule," Middle Danish skof "jest, mockery;" perhaps from Proto-Germanic *skub-, *skuf- (source also of Old English scop "poet," Old High German scoph "fiction, sport, jest, derision"), from PIE *skeubh- "to shove" (see shove (v.)).

Others are reading

Advertisement
Definitions of scoff from WordNet
1
scoff (v.)
laugh at with contempt and derision;
Synonyms: jeer / flout / barrack / gibe
scoff (v.)
treat with contemptuous disregard;
Synonyms: flout
2
scoff (n.)
showing your contempt by derision;
Synonyms: jeer / jeering / mockery / scoffing
From wordnet.princeton.edu