Wiktionary

wolf

See also: Wolf

English

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A wolf.

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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wolf (plural wolves)

  1. 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.
    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.”
  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.
  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, 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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Hypernyms

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Hyponyms

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Coordinate terms

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → Ido: volfo (also from German)

Translations

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constellation — see Lupus

References

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Verb

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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.
    • 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.

Alternative forms

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Synonyms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 “wolf”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  2. ^ Kristin Denham and Anne Lobeck, in Linguistics for Everyone: An Introduction (2009), page 136

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Afrikaans

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Etymology

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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.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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wolf (plural wolwe)

  1. wolf

Alemannic German

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Etymology

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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.

Noun

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wolf m

  1. (Carcoforo, Formazza, Gressoney, Issime, Rimella and Campello Monti) wolf

References

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Dutch

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

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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

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Hypernyms

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Holonyms

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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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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wolf m

  1. wolf, grey wolf

Inflection

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

Derived terms

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Descendants

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Further reading

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Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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wolf (plural wolves, diminutive wolfy, wolfie)

  1. wolf, lupine
  2. terrifying person

Descendants

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Middle High German

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Etymology

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

Noun

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wolf m

  1. wolf

Descendants

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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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Noun

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wolf m (plural wolfa)

  1. wolf

Declension

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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

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Descendants

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West Frisian

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Etymology

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

Noun

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wolf c (plural wolven, diminutive wolfke)

  1. wolf

Further reading

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