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wolf

noun
/wʊlf/UK/wʊlf/US/wʟ̩ːf/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wl̥kʷós? Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos Proto-Germanic *wulfaz Proto-West Germanic *wulf Old English wulf Middle English wolf English wolf Inherited from Middle English wolf, from Old English wulf, ƿulf, from Proto-West Germanic *wulf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos. Doublet of lobo and lupus. Cognates Cognate with Scots wouf, North Frisian wulew, Saterland Frisian and German Low German Wulf, West Frisian, Alemannic German, and Dutch wolf, Bavarian bolf, bölf, Woif, Cimbrian and Mòcheno bolf, German Wolf, Luxembourgish Wollef, Vilamovian wuf, Yiddish וואָלף (volf), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk ulv, Faroese úlvur, Icelandic úlfur, Swedish ulf, ulv, Gothic 𐍅𐌿𐌻𐍆𐍃 (wulfs); also Irish and Scottish Gaelic olc (“bad, evil”), Lepontic 𐌖𐌋𐌊𐌏𐌔 (ulkos), Manx olk (“bad”), Sanskrit वृक (vṛ́ka), Persian گرگ (gorg), Latgalian vylks, Latvian vìlks, Lithuanian vilkas, Belarusian воўк (vowk), Bulgarian вълк (vǎlk), Czech and Slovak vlk, Macedonian and Russian волк (volk), Polish wilk, Serbo-Croatian вук, vuk, Slovene volk, Ukrainian вовк (vovk), Albanian ujk, ulk, Latin lupus, Greek λύκος (lýkos), Hittite 𒉿𒀠𒆪𒉿𒀸, Lydian 𐤥𐤠𐤩𐤥𐤤 (walwe, “lion”), Tocharian B walkwe.

  1. inherited from *wĺ̥kʷos✻
  2. inherited from *wulfaz✻
  3. inherited from *wulf✻
  4. inherited from wulf
  5. inherited from wolf

Definitions

  1. Canis lupus

    Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily.

  2. A man who makes amorous advances to many women.

  3. A wolf tone or wolf note.

    • The soft violin solo was marred by persistent wolves.
  4. ›+ 12 more definitions

    1. Any very ravenous, rapacious, or destructive person or thing

      Any very ravenous, rapacious, or destructive person or thing; especially, want; starvation.

      • They toiled hard to keep the wolf from the door.
      • the bee wolf
      • “[…] 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.”

    2. One of the destructive, and usually hairy, larvae of several species of beetles and grain…

      One of the destructive, and usually hairy, larvae of several species of beetles and grain moths.

    3. A white worm which infests granaries, the larva of Nemapogon granella, a tineid moth.

    4. A wolf spider (Lycosidae spp.).

    5. An eating ulcer or sore. See lupus.

      • If God should send a cancer upon thy face, or a wolf into thy side

    6. A willying machine, that uses willow twigs to cleanse wool.

    7. To devour

      To devour; to gobble; to eat (something) voraciously.

      • "Here's these legal ferrets has got our Puddin' in their clutches, and here's us, spellbound with anguish, watchin' them wolfin' it."
      • After a wolfed burger dinner, I called the night number at Administrative Vice and inquired about known lesbian gathering places.
      • Vicars seated himself and began wolfing a sandwich.

    8. To make amorous advances to many women

      To make amorous advances to many women; to hit on women; to cruise for sex.

    9. To hunt for wolves.

    10. The constellation Lupus.

    11. A surname transferred from the given name.

    12. A male given name.

The neighborhood

Derived

aard-wolf, aardwolf, aphid wolves, Arctic wolf spider, Big Bad Wolf, brush wolf, buy wolf tickets, cry wolf, Desertas wolf spider, dire wolf, eastern wolf, Futsing wolf snake, ghost wolf, have the wolf by the ear, he-wolf, hungry like the wolf, keep the wolf from the door, like a wolf on the fold, Lone Wolf, maned wolf, man is a wolf to man, man-wolf, mer-wolf, rabid wolf spider, raised by wolves, red wolf, rye wolf, seawolf, sea wolf, a wolf, sell wolf tickets, she-wolf, the wolf is at the door, the wolf may lose his teeth but never his nature, tiger wolf, werewolf, were wolf, were-wolf, wher-wolf, white wolf · +59 more

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for wolf. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA