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swarf (SWAWRF) - n., material such as filings, chips, or shavings resulting from metalworking; grit worn away from a grindstone or whetstone.
The metallic equivalent of sawdust. Also, by extension, small fragments from disintegrating spacecraft in orbit about the Earth. First attested in 1565, origin is uncertain -- it's certainly Germanic, with possibilities including an unknown Scandinavian source (compare Old Norse sverfa, to file) and Old English geswearf or gesweorf, to scour.
---L.
The metallic equivalent of sawdust. Also, by extension, small fragments from disintegrating spacecraft in orbit about the Earth. First attested in 1565, origin is uncertain -- it's certainly Germanic, with possibilities including an unknown Scandinavian source (compare Old Norse sverfa, to file) and Old English geswearf or gesweorf, to scour.
---L.
