Inherited from Middle Englishwolf, from Old Englishwulf, ƿulf, from Proto-West Germanic*wulf, from Proto-Germanic*wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European*wĺ̥kʷos.
Cognates
Cognate with Scotswouf, North Frisianwulew, Saterland Frisian and German Low GermanWulf, West Frisian, Alemannic German, andDutchwolf, Bavarianbolf, bölf, Woif, Cimbrian and Mòchenobolf, GermanWolf, LuxembourgishWollef, Vilamovianwuf, Yiddishוואָלף(volf), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, andNorwegian Nynorskulv, Faroeseúlvur, Icelandicúlfur, Swedishulf, ulv, Gothic𐍅𐌿𐌻𐍆𐍃(wulfs); also Irish and Scottish Gaelicolc(“bad, evil”), Lepontic𐌖𐌋𐌊𐌏𐌔(ulkos), Manxolk(“bad”), Sanskritवृक(vṛ́ka), Persianگرگ(gorg), Latgalianvylks, Latvianvìlks, Lithuanianvilkas, Belarusianвоўк(vowk), Bulgarianвълк(vǎlk), Czech and Slovakvlk, Macedonian and Russianволк(volk), Polishwilk, Serbo-Croatianвук, vuk, Slovenevolk, Ukrainianвовк(vovk), Albanianujk, ulk, Latinlupus, Greekλύκος(lýkos), Hittite𒉿𒀠𒆪𒉿𒀸, Lydian𐤥𐤠𐤩𐤥𐤤(walwe, “lion”), Tocharian Bwalkwe. Doublet of lobo and lupus.
(countable)Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily. Synonym:grey wolf
1968, Robert Conquest, “The Purge Begins”, in The Great Terror: Stalin's Purge of the Thirties[1], Macmillan Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 74:He would listen quietly at meetings of the Politburo, or to distinguished visitors, puffing at his Dunhill pipe, doodling aimlessly - his secretaries Poskrebyshev and Dvinsky write that his pads were sometimes covered with the phrase ‘Lenin-teacher-friend’, but the last foreigner to visit him, in February 1953, noted that he was doodling wolves.
Any of several related canines that resemble Canis lupus in appearance, especially those of the genus Canis.
A man who makes amorous advances to many women.
(music) A wolf tone or wolf note. The soft violin solo was marred by persistent wolves.
(figurative) 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
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 85:“[…] 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.”
One of the destructive, and usually hairy, larvae of several species of beetles and grain moths.
A white worm which infests granaries, the larva of Nemapogon granella, a tineid moth.
A wolf spider.
(obsolete) An eating ulcer or sore. See lupus.
1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living.[…], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe[…], →OCLC:If God should send a cancer upon thy face, or a wolf into thy side
A willying machine, to cleanse wool or willow.
1872, Johann Rudolph von Wagner, A handbook of Chemical Technology:The loosening and purifying of the raw cotton from the various impurities , such as sand, grit, &c., is accomplished by beating with the hand, or by the Wolf machine, by means of a cylinder, the surface of which is covered with sharp iron teeth
Synonyms
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loafer, lobo, lofer, loper, lover(Southwestern US dialects)
Hypernyms
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(large wild canid):Canis lupus, canid
Hyponyms
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(large wild canid):she-wolf, wolfess
Hyponyms
[edit]Canis lupus
Abyssinian wolf
Alaskan tundra wolf
Alexander Archipelago wolf
Alsatian wolf dog
Antarctic wolf
Apennine wolf
Arctic wolf, arctic wolf
Bernard's wolf
Chinese wolf
Ethiopian wolf
Eurasian wolf
European wolf
Ezo wolf
Falkland Islands wolf, Falkland Island wolf
Florida black wolf
Great Plains wolf
Greenland wolf
Gregory's wolf
grey wolf, gray wolf
Himalayan wolf
Hokkaido wolf
Honshu wolf
Iberian wolf
Indian wolf
Interior Alaskan wolf
Iranian wolf
Italian wolf
Japanese wolf
Manitoba wolf
Mexican wolf
mountain wolf
painted wolf
polar wolf
prairie wolf
Sakhalin wolf
Taimyr wolf
Tasmanian wolf
Tibetan wolf
timber wolf
tundra wolf
Coordinate terms
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(large wild canid):dingo, dog(members of Canis lupus not called wolf); coyote, jackal, fox(other canids)
Derived terms
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aard-wolf
aphid wolf
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
Lone Wolf(town)
maned wolf
man is a wolf to man
man-wolf
mer-wolf
rabid wolf spider
raised by wolves
red wolf
rye wolf
sea wolf
seawolf (Anarhichas lupus)
see 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
were wolf
werewolf
were-wolf
wher-wolf
white wolf
who keeps company with the wolf will learn to howl
“wolf”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Verb
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wolf (third-person singular simple present wolfs, present participle wolfing, simple past and past participle wolfed)
Wikidata has a Lexeme related to:wolf (L333521)
(transitive) To devour; to gobble; to eat (something) voraciously.
1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 150:"Here's these legal ferrets has got our Puddin' in their clutches, and here's us, spellbound with anguish, watchin' them wolfin' it."
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.
(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.’
“wolf”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
^ Wells, J. C. (1982), Accents of English. Vol. 3: Beyond the British Isles, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 551
^ “wolf”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
^ Kristin Denham and Anne Lobeck, in Linguistics for Everyone: An Introduction (2009), page 136
Further reading
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wolf on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
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flow, fowl
Afrikaans
[edit]Afrikaans Wikipedia has an article on:wolfWikipedia af
Etymology
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From Dutchwolf, from Middle Dutchwolf, from Old Dutch*wulf, *wolf, from Proto-West Germanic*wulf, from Proto-Germanic*wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European*wĺ̥kʷos.
Pronunciation
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Audio:
(file)
Noun
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wolf (plural wolwe)
(countable)wolf(Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily)
Alemannic German
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Etymology
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From Middle High Germanwolf, from Old High Germanwolf, from Proto-West Germanic*wulf, from Proto-Germanic*wulfaz. Cognate with GermanWolf, Dutchwolf, Englishwolf, Icelandicúlfur.
Noun
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wolfm
(Carcoforo, Formazza, Gressoney, Issime, Rimella and Campello Monti, countable)wolf(Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily)
References
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Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien
Dutch
[edit]Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:wolfWikipedia nlTwee wolven in de sneeuw. — Two wolves in the snow.
Etymology
[edit]
From Middle Dutchwolf, from Old Dutch*wulf, from Proto-West Germanic*wulf, from Proto-Germanic*wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European*wĺ̥kʷos.
Pronunciation
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IPA(key): /ʋɔlf/
Audio:
(file)
Hyphenation: wolf
Rhymes: -ɔlf
Noun
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wolfm (plural wolven, diminutive wolfje n, feminine wolvin)
Wikidata has a Lexeme related to:wolf (L1416820)
(countable)wolf(Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily)Ze gingen de wolven bekijken in de dierentuin.They went to look at the wolves in the zoo.
one of many other canids of the family Canidae, especially of the genus CanisEr bestaan verschillende soorten wolven.Various species of wolves exist.
Hypernyms
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hondachtige
Hyponyms
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hond
Holonyms
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roedel
Derived terms
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aardwolf
aarswolf
geldwolf
goudwolf
korenwolf
poolwolf
prairiewolf
rietwolf
strandwolf
waterwolf
weerwolf
woestijnwolf
wolfijzer
wolfsgod
wolfshond
wolfskers
wolfskind
wolfsklauw
wolfsklem
wolfsmelk
wolfspoot
wolfsspin
wolvenroedel
wolvin
zeewolf
Related terms
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welp
Descendants
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Afrikaans: wolf
Jersey Dutch: wâlf
Negerhollands: wuluwuluk
→ Virgin Islands Creole: wuluwuluk(dated)
Hawaiian Creole
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Etymology
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Derived from Englishwolf.
Noun
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wolf
(countable)wolf(Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily)
2000, “Matthew 10”, in Joseph Grimes, transl., Da Jesus Book: Hawaii Pidgin New Testament[2], Wycliffe Bible Translators, →ISBN, page 29:You know, I sending you guys out jalike sheeps, an you guys goin go wea da wild wolfs stay. So you guys gotta tink, jalike da snakes, an no hurt nobody, jalike da doves.See, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. Be therefore as wise as serpents, and as innocent as doves.
Middle Dutch
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Etymology
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From Old Dutch*wulf, from Proto-West Germanic*wulf, from Proto-Germanic*wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European*wĺ̥kʷos.
Noun
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wolfm
wolf, grey wolf
Inflection
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Strong masculine noun
singular
plural
nominative
wolf
wolve
accusative
wolf
wolve
genitive
wolfs
wolve
dative
wolve
wolven
Derived terms
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wēerwolf
Descendants
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Dutch: wolf
Afrikaans: wolf
Jersey Dutch: wâlf
Negerhollands: wuluwuluk
→ Virgin Islands Creole: wuluwuluk(dated)
Limburgish: wólf
Further reading
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“wolf (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “wolf (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I
Middle English
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Alternative forms
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wolfe, woulf, wulf
Etymology
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From Old Englishwulf, from Proto-West Germanic*wulf, from Proto-Germanic*wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European*wĺ̥kʷos.
Pronunciation
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IPA(key): /wulf/
Noun
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wolf (plural wolves, diminutive wolfy, wolfie)
(countable)wolf(Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily)
(figurative) terrifying person
Descendants
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English: wolf
→ Ido: volfo(also from German)
→ Marshallese: oļip
Middle Scots: wolf, woulf
Scots: wouf, oof, ouf, woof
Middle High German
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Etymology
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Inherited from Old High Germanwolf, from Proto-West Germanic*wulf, from Proto-Germanic*wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European*wĺ̥kʷos.
Pronunciation
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IPA(key): (before 13th CE)/ˈwolf/
Noun
[edit]
wolfm
(countable)wolf(Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily)
Declension
[edit] Declension of wolf (strong masculine without umlaut)
singular
plural
indef.
def.
noun
def.
noun
nominative
ein
dër
wolf
die
wolve
genitive
eines
dës
wolves
dër
wolve
dative
eime
dëm
wolve
dën
wolven
accusative
einen
dën
wolf
die
wolve
Descendants
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Alemannic German: wolf(Italian Walser)
Bavarian: Woif, Wolf Cimbrian: bolf Mòcheno: bolf Udinese: bolf, bölf
German: Wolf
Hunsrik: Wollef
Luxembourgish: Wollef
Pennsylvania German: Wolf
Vilamovian: wūf
Yiddish: וואָלף(volf)
Old High German
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Etymology
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From Proto-West Germanic*wulf, from Proto-Germanic*wulfaz.
Pronunciation
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IPA(key): /wolf/
Noun
[edit]
wolfm (plural wolfa)
(countable)wolf(Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily)
1904, “John X”, in William Wye Smith, transl., The New Testament in Braid Scots[3], Paisley: Alexander Gardner, page 130:But the orra man for a fee, wha isna the herd, and auchts‐na the sheep, whan he sees the wolf comin doon, lea’s them and flees ; and the wolf grips them, and skails them abreid.The hired hand sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep and runs away because they do not belong to him. The wolf attacks and scatters the flock.
West Frisian
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]
From Old Frisianwolf, from Proto-West Germanic*wulf, from Proto-Germanic*wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European*wĺ̥kʷos.
Noun
[edit]
wolfc (plural wolven, diminutive wolfke)
(countable)wolf(Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily)
Further reading
[edit]
“wolf”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011
wolf on Wikipedia.Wikipedia 
