wolf's ticket

noun

In tsarist and Stalinist-era Russia, a restricted internal passport issued to those suspected or convicted of political or other crimes which limited where they could travel and reside.

OriginRussian во́лчий биле́т ← Polish wilczy bilet →
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounwolf's ticket (plural wolf's tickets)

plural wolf's tickets

  1. historicalrareIn tsarist and Stalinist-era Russia, a restricted internal passport issued to those suspected or convicted of political or other crimes which limited where they could travel and reside.

    […] now, we had narrowly escaped a terrible danger : absolutely certain expulsion with wolf's tickets two days before our graduation from the gymnasium.

    1967, Konstantin Paustovsky, The Story of a Life, volume 3, page 241

Origin

  1. Polishwilczy bilet
  2. Russianво́лчий биле́т
  3. Englishwolf's ticket

Calque of Russian во́лчий биле́т (vólčij bilét), calque of Polish wilczy bilet.

More words from Russian, Polish

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Polish wilczy bilet
  • wilczy biletTranslations
Russian во́лчий биле́т
  • во́лчий биле́т (vólčij bilét)Translations
Ukrainian во́вчий біле́т
  • во́вчий біле́т (vóvčyj bilét)Translations
Cite this entry
APA

wolf's ticket. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wolf's%20ticket

MLA

“wolf's ticket.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wolf's%20ticket. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wolf's ticket,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wolf's%20ticket.

Source: wolf's ticket on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.