wolf Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun any of various predatory carnivorous canine mammals of North America and Eurasia that usually hunt in packs
  2. noun Austrian composer (1860-1903)
    Hugo Wolf.
  3. noun German classical scholar who claimed that the Iliad and Odyssey were composed by several authors (1759-1824)
    Friedrich August Wolf.
  4. noun a man who is aggressive in making amorous advances to women
    masher; skirt chaser; woman chaser.
  5. noun a cruelly rapacious person
    beast; savage; brute; wildcat.
  6. verb eat hastily
    wolf down.
    • The teenager wolfed down the pizza

WordNet

Wolf noun
Etymology
OE. wolf, wulf, AS. wulf; akin to OS. wulf, D. & G. wolf, Icel. &umac;lfr, Sw. ulf, Dan. ulv, Goth. wulfs, Lith. vilkas, Russ. volk', L. lupus, Gr. ly`kos, Skr. v&rsdot;ka; also to Gr. "e`lkein to draw, drag, tear in pieces. Cf. Lupine, a., Lyceum.
Wordforms
plural Wolves
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of wild and savage carnivores belonging to the genus Canis and closely allied to the common dog. The best-known and most destructive species are the European wolf (Canis lupus), the American gray, or timber, wolf (C. occidentalis), and the prairie wolf, or coyote. Wolves often hunt in packs, and may thus attack large animals and even man.
  2. (Zoöl.) One of the destructive, and usually hairy, larvæ of several species of beetles and grain moths; as, the bee wolf.
  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.
  4. A white worm, or maggot, which infests granaries.
  5. An eating ulcer or sore. Cf. Lupus. Obs.
    If God should send a cancer upon thy face, or a wolf into thy side. Jer. Taylor.
  6. (Mus.) (a) The harsh, howling sound of some of the chords on an organ or piano tuned by unequal temperament. (b) In bowed instruments, a harshness due to defective vibration in certain notes of the scale.
  7. (Textile Manuf.) A willying machine. Knight.

Webster 1913