snarf

[Probably SN(ORT) + (SC)ARF³.]

1. To grab, esp. to grab a large document or file for the purpose of using it with or without the author's permission. See also BLT.

2. [in the Unix community] To fetch a file or set of files across a network. See also blast. This term was mainstream in the late 1960s, meaning ‘to eat piggishly’. It may still have this connotation in context. “He's in the snarfing phase of hacking — FTPing megs of stuff a day.”

3. To acquire, with little concern for legal forms or politesse (but not quite by stealing). “They were giving away samples, so I snarfed a bunch of them.”

4. Syn. for slurp. “This program starts by snarfing the entire database into core, then....”

5. [GEnie] To spray food or programming fluids due to laughing at the wrong moment. “I was drinking coffee, and when I read your post I snarfed all over my desk.” “If I keep reading this topic, I think I'll have to snarf-proof my computer with a keyboard condom.” [This sense appears to be widespread among mundane teenagers —ESR] The sound of snarfing is splork!.

The verb has one meaning:

Meaning #1: make off with belongings of others
  Synonyms: pilfer, cabbage, purloin, pinch, abstract, swipe, hook, sneak, filch, nobble, lift

Snarf or SNARF can refer to:

• A character in the cartoon ThunderCats who frequently says the word "Snarf" at the end of a phrase.
• Snarf, a character from the animated television series Trollz.
• The main character from SnarfQuest, a comic that ran in Dragon magazine.
• An underground comic published in the early 1970s by Denis Kitchen.
• SNARF-1 - a fluorescent dye that changes colour with pH
• Social Network and Relationship Finder developed by Microsoft Research, published December 16, 2005
• snarfing, a strategy for maintaining cache coherency in a computer system.
• snarf is listed in the Jargon File with meanings mostly similar to "grab"

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