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Scarf vs Fichu - What's the difference?

scarf | fichu |

As nouns the difference between scarf and fichu

is that scarf is a long, often knitted, garment worn around the neck or scarf can be a type of joint in woodworking or scarf can be (scotland) a cormorant while fichu is a woman's lightweight triangular scarf worn over the shoulders and tied in front.

As a verb scarf

is to throw on loosely; to put on like a scarf or scarf can be to shape by grinding or scarf can be (transitive|us|slang) to eat very quickly.

scarf

English

(wikipedia scarf)

Etymology 1

Probably from . http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/scarf?s=t. The verb is derived from the noun.

Noun

(en-noun)
  • A long, often knitted, garment worn around the neck.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
  • , title=(The China Governess) , chapter=2 citation , passage=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.}}
  • A headscarf.
  • (dated) A neckcloth or cravat.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • 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.
  • To dress with a scarf, or as with a scarf; to cover with a loose wrapping.
  • Etymology 2

    (the first two definitions) Of uncertain origin. Possibly from (etyl) skarfr, derivative of .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A type of joint in woodworking.
  • A groove on one side of a sewing machine needle.
  • A dip or notch or cut made in the trunk of a tree to direct its fall when felling.
  • Synonyms
    * (l)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To shape by grinding.
  • 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.
  • To unite, as two pieces of timber or metal, by a scarf joint.
  • Etymology 3

    Of imitative origin, or a variant of scoff. Alternatively from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (transitive, US, slang) To eat very quickly.
  • You sure scarfed that pizza.
    Usage notes
    The more usual form in the UK is scoff.
    Derived terms
    * scarf down

    Etymology 4

    Icelandic (skarfr)?

    Noun

  • (Scotland) A cormorant.
  • (Webster 1913)

    fichu

    English

    (wikipedia fichu)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A woman's lightweight triangular scarf worn over the shoulders and tied in front
  • * 1789, The Ladies Magazine , January 1789, "Fashionable Dresses: The First Lady's Dress", page 55
  • On the neck—an ample Fichu , very prominent, the point of which behind goes under the jacket and the ends before go under the stomacher
  • * 1868 London Society , vol. XIII, "Fashion at Longchamps", page 407
  • The fichu proper, introduced by Marie Antoinette, not before the décolletée style of toilette made it positively necessary, was nothing more than a lace kerchief worn crossed over the shoulders.
  • * 1919, , Duckworth, hardback edition, page 93
  • She wore a dress of filmy white stuff, embroidered with bunches of pale mauve thistles, a full fichu', and a large mauve hat with wide mauve ribbons, tied in front in a large knot where the ' fichu was crossed on her bosom.
  • * 1969 , Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor , Penguin 2011, p. 285:
  • Assistant Van admired her elegant slenderness, the gray tailor-made suit, the smoky fichu and as it wafted away, her long white neck.
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