Online Computer Terms Dictionary - S

snarf

/snarf/ 1. To grab, especially to grab a large document or file for the purpose of using it with or without the author's permission.

See also BLT.

2. (Unix) To fetch a file or set of files across a network.

See also blast.

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. Synonym for slurp. "This program starts by snarfing the entire database into core."

5. (GEnie) To spray food or programming fluids due to laughing at the wrong moment. This sense appears to be widespread among mundane teenagers - ESR.

6. This term was mainstream in the late 1960s, meaning "to eat piggishly". It may still have this connotation in context.

7. A creature on the Thundercats, fond of eating, usually covertly.

[Jargon File]

(1995-02-21)