wolf

plural wolves

1. countableCanis lupus; the largest wild member of the canine subfamily.

   1 more example

   He would listen quietly at meetings of the Politburo, or to distinguished visitors, puffing at his Dunhill pipe, doodling aimlessly - his secretaries Poskrebyshev and Dvinsky write that his pads were sometimes covered with the phrase ‘Lenin-teacher-friend’, but the last foreigner to visit him, in February 1953, noted that he was doodling wolves.

   1968, Robert Conquest, “The Purge Begins”, in The Great Terror: Stalin's Purge of the Thirties, Macmillan Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 74

   Synonyms: grey wolf

   1. countableAny of several related canines that resemble Canis lupus in appearance, especially those of the genus Canis.

      Synonyms: grey wolf

2. A man who makes amorous advances to many women.
3. entertainmentA wolf tone or wolf note.

   The soft violin solo was marred by persistent wolves.

4. figurativelyAny very ravenous, rapacious, or destructive person or thing; especially, want; starvation.

   the bee wolf

   2 more examples

   They toiled hard to keep the wolf from the door.

   “[…] 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.”

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 85

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. obsoleteAn eating ulcer or sore. See lupus.

   If God should send a cancer upon thy face, or a wolf into thy side

   1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC

9. A willying machine, that uses willow twigs to cleanse wool.

   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

   1872, Johann Rudolph von Wagner, A handbook of Chemical Technology

present singular third person wolfs · participle present wolfing · participle past wolfed · past wolfed · alternative rare wolve

1. transitiveTo devour; to gobble; to eat (something) voraciously.

   Vicars seated himself and began wolfing a sandwich.

   2013, Neil Martin, Collected Stories of the Sea

   2 more examples

   "Here's these legal ferrets has got our Puddin' in their clutches, and here's us, spellbound with anguish, watchin' them wolfin' it."

   1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 150

   After a wolfed burger dinner, I called the night number at Administrative Vice and inquired about known lesbian gathering places.

   1987, James Ellroy, The Black Dahlia

   Synonyms: gulp down, wolf down

2. intransitiveslangTo make amorous advances to many women; to hit on women; to cruise for sex.

   1 more example

   [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.’

   1949, Nelson Algren, The Man with the Golden Arm

3. intransitiveTo hunt for wolves.

1. The constellation Lupus.

plural Wolfs

1. A surname transferred from the given name.

   Until recently, Naomi Wolf was best known for her 1990s feminist blockbuster The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women, which argued that the tyranny of grooming standards—all that plucking and waxing—was a form of backlash against women’s rights.

   2023 September 12, Helen Lewis, “From Feminist to Right-Wing Conspiracist”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN, archived from the original on 08 Nov 2023

2. A male given name.