wolf

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See also: Wolf

English

A wolf.

Etymology

From Middle English wolf, from Old English wulf, ƿulf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz (compare Saterland Frisian Wulf, West Frisian and Dutch wolf, German Wolf, Norwegian and Danish ulv), from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos (compare Sanskrit वृक (vṛ́ka), Persian گرگ (gorg), Lithuanian vilkas, Russian волк (volk), Albanian ujk, Latin lupus, Greek λύκος (lýkos), Tocharian B walkwe).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: wo͝olf
    • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /wʊlf/
    • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /wʊlf/, [wʊ̠ɫf], [wɫ̩f]
    • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "NZ" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /wʊlf/, [wʊwf]
    • Audio (US):(file)
    • Audio (UK):(file)
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "obsolete" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /wʌlf/
  • Rhymes: -ʊlf

Noun

wolf (plural wolves)

  1. The gray wolf, specifically all subspecies of the gray wolf (Canis lupus) that are not dingoes or dogs.
  2. A man who makes amorous advances to many women.
  3. (music) A wolf tone or wolf note.
  4. (figurative) Any very ravenous, rapacious, or destructive person or thing; especially, want; starvation.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      “ […] Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing. Oh, dear, there's so much to tell you, so many warnings to give you, but all that must be postponed for the moment.”
    They toiled hard to keep the wolf from the door.
    the bee wolf
  5. One of the destructive, and usually hairy, larvae of several species of beetles and grain moths.
  6. A white worm, or maggot, which infests granaries.
  7. (obsolete) An eating ulcer or sore. See lupus.
    • (Can we date this quote by Jeremy Taylor and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      If God should send a cancer upon thy face, or a wolf into thy side
  8. A willying machine.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “wolf”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Hypernyms

Hyponyms

Coordinate terms

Derived terms

Descendants

  • → Ido: volfo (also from German)

Translations

constellation — see Lupus

Verb

wolf (third-person singular simple present wolfs, present participle wolfing, simple past and past participle wolfed)

  1. (transitive) To devour; to gobble; to eat (something) voraciously.
    • 1987, James Ellroy, The Black Dahlia:
      After a wolfed burger dinner, I called the night number at Administrative Vice and inquired about known lesbian gathering places.
    • 2013, Neil Martin, Collected Stories of the Sea:
      Vicars seated himself and began wolfing a sandwich.
  2. (intransitive, slang) To make amorous advances to many women; to hit on women; to cruise for sex.
    • 1949, Nelson Algren, The Man with the Golden Arm:
      [1940s Chicago punk:] ‘I’ve seen a thing or two in my time,’ he still liked to boast, ‘that was how I found out the best place for wolfin’ ain’t the taverns. It ain’t in dance halls ’r on North Clark on Saturday night. It’s in the front row in Sunday school on Sunday mornin’. Oh yeh, I know a thing or two, I been around.’
  3. (intransitive) To hunt for wolves.

Synonyms

Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch wolf, from Middle Dutch wolf, from Old Dutch *wulf, *wolf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos.

Noun

wolf (plural wolwe)

  1. wolf

Alemannic German

Etymology

From Middle High German wolf, from Old High German wolf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz. Cognate with German Wolf, Dutch wolf, English wolf, Icelandic úlfur.

Noun

wolf m

  1. (Italian Walser) wolf

References

Dutch

Twee wolven in de sneeuw. — Two wolves in the snow.

Etymology

From Middle Dutch wolf, from Old Dutch *wulf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos.

Pronunciation

Noun

wolf m (plural wolven, diminutive wolfje n, feminine wolvin)

  1. wolf, undomesticated Canis lupus
    Ze gingen de wolven bekijken in de dierentuin.
    They went to look at the wolves in the zoo.
  2. one of many other canids of the family Canidae, especially of the genus Canis
    Er bestaan verschillende soorten wolven.
    Various species of wolves exist.

Hypernyms

Hypernyms

Holonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *wulf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos.

Noun

wolf m

  1. wolf, grey wolf

Inflection

Declension of wolf (strong)
Singular Plural
nominative wolf wolve
accusative wolf wolve
genitive wolfs wolve
dative wolve wolven

Derived terms

Descendants

Further reading

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English wulf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos.

Pronunciation

Noun

wolf (plural wolves, diminutive wolfy, wolfie)

  1. wolf, lupine
  2. terrifying person

Descendants

Middle High German

Etymology

From Old High German wolf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos.

Noun

wolf m

  1. wolf

Descendants

  • Alemannic German:
    Italian Walser: wolf
    Swabian:
  • Bavarian:
    Cimbrian: bolf
    Mòcheno: bolf
    Udinese: bolf, bölf
  • Central Franconian:
    Hunsrik: Wollef
    Luxembourgish: Wollef
  • East Central German:
    Vilamovian: wūf
  • East Franconian:
  • German: Wolf
    • → Ido: volfo (also from English)
  • Rhine Franconian:
    Pennsylvania German: Wolf
  • Yiddish: וואָלף (volf)

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *wulfaz.

Pronunciation

Noun

wolf m (plural wolfa)

  1. wolf

Declension

Declension of wolf (masculine a-stem)
case singular plural
nominative wolf wolfa
accusative wolf wolfa
genitive wolfes wolfo
dative wolfe wolfum
instrumental wolfu —

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Middle High German: wolf
    • Alemannic German:
      Italian Walser: wolf
      Swabian:
    • Bavarian:
      Cimbrian: bolf
      Mòcheno: bolf
      Udinese: bolf, bölf
    • Central Franconian:
      Hunsrik: Wollef
      Luxembourgish: Wollef
    • East Central German:
      Vilamovian: wūf
    • East Franconian:
    • German: Wolf
      • → Ido: volfo (also from English)
    • Rhine Franconian:
      Pennsylvania German: Wolf
    • Yiddish: וואָלף (volf)

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian wolf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos.

Noun

wolf c (plural wolven, diminutive wolfke)

  1. wolf

Further reading

  • “wolf”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011
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