wolf
Pluralwolves
Pluralwolves
- 1A large wild carnivorous animal of the dog family that hunts in packs, especially the gray wolf (Canis lupus); also any of several related wolf-like species, such as the red wolf.
A lone wolf wandered down from the mountains in search of food.
Biologists tracked the pack of wolves across the frozen tundra for months.
UsagePlural wolves (not
incorrect: wolfs). - 2To eat food very quickly and greedily, swallowing it down in large mouthfuls.
Hungry after practice, the players wolf their sandwiches in seconds.
He wolfed down the entire plate before anyone else sat down.
UsageOften with down: wolf down a sandwich, wolf it down. Its forms are wolfs and wolfed.
Similardevour, gobble, bolt, gulp
Note
The past participle also works as an adjective, as in James Ellroy's The Black Dahlia (1987): "a wolfed burger dinner," a meal eaten too fast to taste. Neil Martin's Collected Stories of the Sea (2013) uses it without down, taking a direct object: "began wolfing a sandwich."
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- James Ellroy wrote The Black Dahlia, first published in 1987. en.wikipedia.org
- The Black Dahlia contains the quoted phrase, with wolfed modifying burger dinner. en.wiktionary.org
- Neil Martin's Collected Stories of the Sea was first published in 2013. openlibrary.org
- Collected Stories of the Sea contains the quoted wording, without down and with a sandwich as the direct object. en.wiktionary.org
- 3Any extremely greedy, grasping, or destructive person or thing, especially hunger or poverty.
For years the family struggled to keep the wolf from the door.
When the mill closed, the wolf was at the door again by Christmas.
UsageMostly in set phrases: keep the wolf from the door, the wolf is at the door.
Note
The animal as a figure for hunger itself, living mostly in fixed phrases. To keep the wolf from the door is to earn just enough to hold off want. W. B. Maxwell's The Mirror and the Lamp (1918) speaks of wolves in lamb's clothing, predators passing as harmless. Compounds such as bee wolf carry the same idea of a ravenous destroyer.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- W. B. Maxwell wrote The Mirror and the Lamp, published in 1918. en.wikisource.org
- The novel contains the wording “wolves in lamb's clothing,” describing predatory people. en.wiktionary.org
- 4A man who pursues romantic or sexual relationships with many women.
Her coworkers cautioned her about the office wolf who flirted with every new hire.
Behind the polished manners he was a wolf, and every woman in the firm knew it.
Similarwomanizer, philanderer, lothario, seducer
Less common meanings
- 5To pursue many women romantically or sexually; to go around hitting on women.
Note
Nelson Algren's The Man with the Golden Arm (1949) gives it to a Chicago punk boasting about the best place for wolfin'.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Nelson Algren wrote The Man with the Golden Arm, first published in 1949. openlibrary.org
- A character described as a punk boasts about the best place for “wolfin’”; the speaker is Sparrow Saltskin. en.wikiquote.org
- The character belongs to the novel's Chicago setting. en.wikipedia.org
- 6To hunt wolves, especially as a means of protecting livestock or for sport.
In the 1880s, some men made a living wolfing for bounties.
The brothers spent that winter wolfing, following tracks through deep snow.
- 7An ulcer or sore that eats into and destroys the surrounding flesh, related to the condition called lupus.
If God should send a cancer upon thy face, or a wolf into thy side
1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living.Note
A medical sense now out of use, for a sore pictured as gnawing at the flesh. Jeremy Taylor's The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living (1650) pairs it with cancer: "a cancer upon thy face, or a wolf into thy side." The idea survives in lupus, the Latin word for the animal, which medicine kept as the name of a disease. In English, plain wolf no longer means a sore.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Wolf historically named an ulcer or sore through a metaphor of eating flesh. gutenberg.org
- Jeremy Taylor wrote The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, first published in 1650. tianmu.org
- Taylor pairs cancer and wolf in the quoted wording. ccel.org
- Lupus means wolf in Latin and became a medical name for disease. en.wikipedia.org
- The medical name lupus reflects the idea of flesh being devoured. scholar.usuhs.edu
- 8A ground-hunting spider of the family Lycosidae that pursues prey on foot rather than trapping it in a web.
- 9An unpleasant, beating or warbling tone produced on a bowed string instrument when a played note clashes with the instrument's own resonance.
- 10Any of several destructive larvae of beetles and grain moths that infest stored grain, such as the larva of the moth Nemapogon granella.
- 11A machine, also called a willow or willy, that cleans and loosens wool, cotton, or other textile fibers before carding.
Showing meanings only.
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Origin
From Old English wulf, going back through Proto-Germanic *wulfaz to Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos. It is related to Dutch wolf, German Wolf, Latin lupus, Greek lýkos, Sanskrit vṛ́ka and Russian volk.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- English wolf derives from Old English wulf. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English wulf descends through Proto-Germanic *wulfaz from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos. en.wiktionary.org
- English wolf is related to Dutch wolf, German Wolf, Latin lupus, Greek lýkos, Sanskrit vṛ́ka and Russian volk. en.wiktionary.org