wolve

English

Etymology

From inflected stem of wolf.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wʊlv/
• Rhymes: -ʊlv

Verb

wolve (third-person singular simple present wolves, present participle wolving, simple past and past participle wolved)

1. (intransitive) To behave like a wolf.
2. (intransitive) Of an organ, to make a hollow whining sound like that of a wolf.
   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 784:

     he had returned to his schoolboy's script, to distant Evensongs, to the wolving of the ancient chapel organ as the last light is extinguished and the door latched for the long night.

3. (transitive) Rare form of wolf (“to devour; to gobble; to eat (something) voraciously”).
   • 1838 November 16, “Measure for Measure”, in The Morning Chronicle, number 21,530, London, page [3], column 6:

     He then went to the Crown and Anchor public-house, in the same street, and had two pints of ale, and bread and cheese, the latter of which he “wolved” in a way that “out dando’d Dando.”

   • 1924, Elliot Paul, Imperturbe: A Novel of Peace Without Victory, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, page 39:

     Already, some of the labourers were unstraddling the benches to go, having wolved a plate or two, and their piece of pie.

   • a. 1941, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, edited by Matthew J[oseph] Bruccoli, F. Scott Fitzgerald Manuscripts: The Vegetable, Stories, and Articles, New York, N.Y., London: Garland Publishing, Inc., published 1991, →ISBN, page 256:

     It was evening before he had wolved a […]

   • 1941 February 25, “Cut-Throat Enemies Outwitted By ‘Desert Rat’ By Sly Tactics”, in Arizona Republic, 51st year, number 283, Phoenix, Ariz., page two, column 4:

     I’d rather be the wolf than be wolved.

   • 1957 July 4, Dawn Powell, edited by Tim Page, The Diaries of Dawn Powell, 1931–1965, South Royalton, Vt.: Steerforth Press, published 1995, →ISBN, page 371:

     Also, when she wolves a sandwich—a peasant greed and sort of pious righteousness, as if “Food is Good For You. The Body Must Survive. I have a Right to this sandwich.”

   • 1994, Robin Jenkins, The Thistle and the Grail, Edinburgh: Polygon, published 1997, →ISBN, page 78:

     That chip by this addition became a feast, and the Fernbank manners, as they wolved into it, were revolting.

Derived terms

• wolve down
• wolver

Anagrams

• vowel