wolfwʊlf(n.; v.)(pl.)wolves

1. (n.)any of several carnivorous mammals of the genus Canus, esp. the gray wolf, Canis lupus, formerly common throughout the Northern Hemisphere.

   Category: Mammals

2. any of several other large canids, as the maned wolf.

   Category: Mammals

3. the fur of such an animal.

4. any of various unrelated wolflike animals, as the thylacine.

   Category: Mammals

5. a cruelly rapacious person.

6. a man who makes amorous advances to many women.

7. a pitch of unstable quality or loudness sometimes occurring in a bowed musical instrument.

   Category: Music and Dance

8. (v.t.)to devour voraciously (often fol. by down):

   to wolf one's food.

9. (v.i.)to hunt for wolves.

Idioms for wolf:

1. cry wolf, to give a false alarm.

   Category: Idiom

2. keep the wolf from the door, to avert poverty or starvation.

   Category: Idiom

3. wolf in sheep's clothing, a person who conceals evil beneath an innocent exterior.

   Category: Idiom

Origin of wolf:

bef. 900; ME; OE wulf, c. OS wulf, OHG wolf, ON ulfr, Go wulfs, Pol wilk, Skt vṛka; akin to L lupus, Gk lýkos

wolf′like`(adj.)

Wolfvɔlf(n.)

1. Friedrich August, 1759–1824, German classical scholar.

   Category: Biography

2. Hugo, 1860–1903, Austrian composer.

   Category: Biography