wolf - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Grey wolf (Canis lupus)

Proto-West Germanic *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.

wolf (plural wolves)

Wikidata lexemes logo

  1. (countable) Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily.
    Synonym: grey wolf
    1. Any of several related canines that resemble Canis lupus in appearance, especially those of the genus Canis.
  2. A man who makes amorous advances to many women.
  3. (music) A wolf tone or wolf note.
    The soft violin solo was marred by persistent wolves.
  4. (figurative) Any very ravenous, rapacious, or destructive person or thing; especially, want; starvation.
    They toiled hard to keep the wolf from the door.
    • 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.”
  5. One of the destructive, and usually hairy, larvae of several species of beetles and grain moths.
  6. A white worm which infests granaries, the larva of Nemapogon granella, a tineid moth.
  7. A wolf spider (Lycosidae spp.).
  8. (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
  9. A willying machine, that uses willow twigs to cleanse wool.
    • 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

animal

constellation — see Lupus

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

Wikidata lexemes logo

  1. (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.
  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.

to devour

  1. ^ Wells, J. C. (1982), Accents of English. Vol. 3: Beyond the British Isles, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 551
  2. ^ “wolf”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  3. ^ Kristin Denham and Anne Lobeck, in Linguistics for Everyone: An Introduction (2009), page 136

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

wolf (plural wolwe)

  1. (countable) wolf (Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily)

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

wolf m

  1. (Carcoforo, Formazza, Gressoney, Issime, Rimella and Campello Monti, countable) wolf (Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily)

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

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

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

Wikidata lexemes logo

  1. (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.
  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.

Derived from English wolf.

wolf

  1. (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.

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

wolf m

  1. wolf, grey wolf

Strong masculine noun

| | singular | plural | | | ----------- | ------ | ------ | | nominative | wolf | wolve | | accusative | wolf | wolve | | genitive | wolfs | wolve | | dative | wolve | wolven |

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

wolf (plural wolves, diminutive wolfy, wolfie)

  1. (countable) wolf (Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily)
  2. (figurative) terrifying person

Inherited from Old High German wolf, from Proto-West Germanic *wulf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz, from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos.

wolf m

  1. (countable) wolf (Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily)

From Proto-West Germanic *wulf, from Proto-Germanic *wulfaz.

wolf m (plural wolfa)

  1. (countable) wolf (Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily)

wolf (plural wolves)

  1. alternative form of wouf
    • 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.

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

wolf c (plural wolven, diminutive wolfke)

  1. (countable) wolf (Canis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily)