wolf Hear it!

wolf Definition

wolf (wo̵olf)

noun pl. wolveswo̵olvz

    1. any of various wild canine carnivores (genus Canis), esp. the gray wolf, widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere: domestic dogs are thought to be descended from wolves
    2. the fur of a wolf
    1. a fierce, cruel, or greedy person
    2. Slang a man who flirts aggressively with many women
    1. the dissonance of some chords on an organ, piano, etc. that has been tuned in a system of unequal temperament; also, a chord in which such dissonance is heard
    2. an unsteadiness or breaking of certain tones in instruments of the violin group, due to faulty vibration

Etymology: ME < OE wulf, akin to Ger wolf, ON ulfr, Goth wulfs < IE base *wḷp-, *lup-, name of animals of prey > L lupus, Gr lykos

transitive verb wolfed, wolf·ing

to eat ravenously, as a wolf does: often with down

wolf Idioms

cry wolf

to give a false alarm

keep the wolf from the door

to provide the necessities of life in sufficient quantity to prevent privation

wolf in sheep's clothing

a person who hides malicious intent under a benign manner: see Matt. 7:15

Wolf Definition

Wolf (vō̂lf)

  1. Wolf, Friedrich August (frēdriH o̵u go̵̅o̅st) 1759-1824; Ger. classical scholar

  2. wō̂lf

    Wolf, Hugo (ho̵̅o̅) 1860-1903; Austrian composer

wolf Synonyms

wolf

n.

  1. An animal].

    Varieties of wolves include: wild dog, dingo, Eskimo dog, gray wolf, white wolf, red wolf, jackal, coyote, timber wolf, lobo, Japanese wolf, Indian wolf, thylacine, aardwolf;

  2. *A seducer

    Don Juan, Casanova, lothario, Lochinvar, suitor, wooer, pursuer, gallant, lady killer*, lover boy*, wild man*, rapist*, brute*, lecher*, flirt*, cur*, glutton*, cannibal*, killer*.

wolf Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • reintroduce: Maintenance of genetic identity of locally adapted races is a responsibility of agencies which plan to reintroduce wolves into the wild.
  • cry: Mr Blair has cried wolf a number of times in the past few years.
  • raven: He says, " Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
  • howl: Like a howling wolf his shouts break out, through the forest.
  • kill: Being hunters, they carried their rifles with them, in case they got a chance to kill some wolves.

Adjective modifier

  • Ethiopian: Only 500 of the beautiful Ethiopian wolves survive, high in the Bale Mountains, which are 3,000m above sea level.
  • ravening: Jesus spoke of ravening wolves in sheep's clothing.
  • ravenous: Hell, he might as well of been raised by vultures and ravenous wolves or even raised by Satan himself.
  • maned: Emas National Park in Brazil presents excellent wildlife viewing opportunities and remains a stronghold of the seldom seen maned wolf and giant anteater.
  • ferocious: They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.
  • three-tailed: Page 6 1 [ Closeup of the wolf. ] three-tailed wolf The zombie.

Modifies a noun

  • reintroduction: What is the first step in the Highland wolf reintroduction?
  • depredation: What does research on wolf depredation have to say?
  • cub: Letters home from an advertising wolf cub, read by Griff Rhys Jones.
  • blitzer: Nonexistent the players plaintiff would learn low-key in promoting kondracke wolf blitzer.
  • howl: Whereupon the old wolf sat down, pointed nose at the moon, and broke out the long wolf howl.
  • spider: Occasional wolf spiders ( Pardosa sp. and Hogna sp.

Noun used with modifier

  • naomi: Or naomi wolf off of this learning capability that.

Possessives

  • bane: Or how about some wolf's bane or sneezewort?

Preposition: in

  • sheep: A bit of a wolf in sheep 's clothing, the Gibson.
wolf Quotes

Woman to man Is either a God or a wolfe.

—Webster,John

Theyare sped; And when they list, their lean and flashy songs 578 Grate on their scrannel Pipes of wretched straw, The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed, But swollen with wind, and the rank mist they draw, Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread, Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw Daily devours apace, and nothing said, But that two-handed engine at the door, Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more.

—Milton,John

They have let the wolf into the sheepfold!

—Ingres,Jean Auguste Dominique

   Lupus est homo homini, non homo, quom qualis sit non novit. A man is a wolf, and not a man, to another man, for as long as he doesn't know what he is like.

—Plautus,Titus Maccius

It's naked child against hungry wolf; it's playing bowls upon a splitting wreck; it's walking on a string across a gulf with millstones fore-and-aft about your neck; but the thing is daily done by manyand many a one; and we fall, face forward, fighting, on the deck.

—Davidson,John

   I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.Iamthegood shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold: them also must I bring, and theyshall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

—Bible (NewTestament)

But the skin of progress Masks, unknown, the spotted wolf of sameness.

—Soyinka,Wole pseudonym of Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw likethe ox. And thesucking child shall playonthehole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice'den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the L, as the waters cover the sea.

—Bible (Old Testament)

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the L.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Till the wolf and the lamb be united.

—Aristophanes

It takes in reality only one to make a quarrel. It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favour of vegetarianism, while the wolf remains of a different opinion.

—Inge,William Ralph

Now this is the Law of the Jungleöas old and as true as the sky; 471

—Kipling, (Joseph) Rudyard

   What shall we say of the intelligence, not to say religion, of those who are so particular to distinguish between fishes and reptiles and birds, but put a man with an immortalsoul inthesame circlewiththewolf, thehyena, and theskunk? What must betheimpressionmadeupon children by such a degradation of man?

—Bryan,WilliamJennings

Browse dictionary entries near wolf

  1. wold
  2. woken
  3. woke
  4. wok
  5. wog
  6. Woffington
  7. woeful
  8. woebegone
  9. woe
  10. wodge
  1. wolf call
  2. Wolf Cub
  3. wolf dog
  4. wolf spider
  5. wolf whistle
  6. wolfberry
  7. Wolfe
  8. Wolfensohn, James D.
  9. wolfer
  10. Wolffian body