1. wolf(n = noun.animal) - any of various predatory carnivorous canine mammals of North America and Eurasia that usually hunt in packs;
is a kind of canid, canine
is a member of canis, genus canis
has particulars: wolf cub, wolf pup, canis lupus, gray wolf, grey wolf, timber wolf, arctic wolf, canis lupus tundrarum, white wolf, canis niger, canis rufus, maned wolf, red wolf, brush wolf, canis latrans, coyote, prairie wolf
2. wolf(n = noun.person) hugo wolf - Austrian composer (1860-1903);
is a kind of composer
3. wolf(n = noun.person) friedrich august wolf - German classical scholar who claimed that the Iliad and Odyssey were composed by several authors (1759-1824);
is a kind of classical scholar, classicist
4. wolf(n = noun.person) masher, skirt chaser, woman chaser - a man who is aggressive in making amorous advances to women;
is a kind of philanderer, womaniser, womanizer
5. wolf(n = noun.person) beast, brute, savage, wildcat - a cruelly rapacious person;
is a kind of aggressor, assailant, assaulter, attacker
wolf(v = verb.consumption) wolf down - eat hastily; "The teenager wolfed down the pizza"
is one way to eat
Sample sentences:
They wolf more bread
1. Any one of several species of wild and savage carnivores belonging to the genus
2. One of the destructive, and usually hairy, larvæ of several species of beetles and grain moths; as, the bee wolf. [1913 Webster]
3. Fig.: Any very ravenous, rapacious, or destructive person or thing; especially, want; starvation; as, they toiled hard to keep the wolf from the door. [1913 Webster]
4. A white worm, or maggot, which infests granaries. [1913 Webster]
5. An eating ulcer or sore. Cf. Lupus. [1913 Webster]
"If God should send a cancer upon thy face, or a wolf into thy side." [1913 Webster]
6. The harsh, howling sound of some of the chords on an organ or piano tuned by unequal temperament. [1913 Webster]
7. A willying machine. Knight. [1913 Webster]
wolf, n. & v.
--n. (pl. wolves)
1 a wild flesh-eating tawny-grey mammal related to the dog, esp. Canis lupus, preying on sheep etc. and hunting in packs.
2 sl. a man given to seducing women.
3 a rapacious or greedy person.
4 Mus. a a jarring sound from some notes in a bowed instrument. b an out-of-tune effect when playing certain chords on old organs (before the present 'equal temperament' was in use).
--v.tr. (often foll. by down) devour (food) greedily.
Idiom:
cry wolf raise repeated false alarms (so that a genuine one is disregarded). have (or hold) a wolf by the ears be in a precarious position. keep the wolf from the door avert hunger or starvation. lone wolf a person who prefers to act alone. throw to the wolves sacrifice without compunction. wolf-cub
1 a young wolf.
2 Brit. the former name for a Cub Scout. wolf-fish any large voracious blenny of the genus Anarrhichas. wolf in sheep's clothing a hostile person who pretends friendship. wolf-pack an attacking group of submarines or aircraft. wolf's-milk spurge. wolf-spider any ground-dwelling spider of the family Lycosidae, hunting instead of trapping its prey. wolf-whistle n. a sexually admiring whistle by a man to a woman.
--v.intr. make a wolf-whistle.
Derivative:
wolfish adj. wolfishly adv. wolflike adj. & adv.
Etymology:
OE wulf f. Gmc
arctic wolf, brush wolf, european wolf spider, friedrich august wolf, gray wolf, grey wolf, hugo wolf, lone wolf, maned wolf, painted wolf, prairie wolf, red wolf, sea wolf, strand wolf, tasmanian wolf, timber wolf, white wolf, wolf bean, wolf boy, wolf cub, wolf down, wolf fish, wolf man, wolf pack, wolf pup, wolf spider