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WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026wolf /wʊlf/USA pronunciation
n. [countable], pl. wolves /wʊlvz/USA pronunciation ), v., wolfed, wolf•ing. n. [countable]
- Mammalsa meat-eating animal resembling and related to the dog.
- a cruel, thieving, greedy person.
- a man who tries to lure women into romantic relationships.
v. [~ + object]
- to eat very greedily or quickly;
devour with great haste:He wolfed (down) his food.
Idioms
- Idioms cry wolf, to give a false alarm:The boy cried wolf so many times no one believed him when a real emergency arose.
- Idioms wolf in sheep's clothing, [countable] a person who hides evil beneath an innocent outer appearance.
wolf•ish, adj.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026lone′ wolf′, [Informal.]
- Informal Termsa person who prefers to live, act, or work alone or independent of others.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026wolf
(wŏŏlf ),USA pronunciation n., pl. wolves (wŏŏlvz),USA pronunciation
n. - any of several large carnivorous mammals of the genus Canis, of the dog family Canidae, esp. C. lupus, usually hunting in packs, formerly common throughout the Northern Hemisphere but now chiefly restricted to the more unpopulated parts of its range.
- the fur of such an animal.
- any of various wolflike animals of different families, as the thylacine.
- (cap.) [Astron.]the constellation Lupus.
- the larva of any of various small insects infesting granaries.
- a cruelly rapacious person.
- [Informal.]a man who makes amorous advances to many women.
- [Music.]
- the harsh discord heard in certain chords of keyboard instruments, esp. the organ, when tuned on some system of unequal temperament.
- a chord or interval in which such a discord appears.
- (in bowed instruments) a discordant or false vibration in a string due to a defect in structure or adjustment of the instrument.
- cry wolf, to give a false alarm:Is she really sick or is she just crying wolf ?
- keep the wolf from the door, to avert poverty or starvation;
provide sufficiently for:Their small inheritance kept the wolf from the door.
- wolf in sheep's clothing, a person who conceals his or her evil intentions or character beneath an innocent exterior.
v.t. - to devour voraciously (often fol. by down):He wolfed his food.
v.i. - to hunt for wolves.
- bef. 900; Middle English; Old English wulf; cognate with German Wolf, Old Norse ulfr, Gothic wulfs, Polish wilk, Lithuanian vil̃kas, Sanskrit vṛka; akin to Latin lupus, Greek lýkos
- Biographical Baron Christian von. See Wolff, Baron Christian von.
- a male given name.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
wolf /wʊlf/ n ( pl wolves /wʊlvz/)- a predatory canine mammal, Canis lupus, which hunts in packs and was formerly widespread in North America and Eurasia but is now less common
See also timber wolfRelated adjective(s): lupine - any of several similar and related canines, such as the red wolf and the coyote (prairie wolf)
- the fur of any such animal
- Tasmanian wolf ⇒
- a voracious, grabbing, or fiercely cruel person or thing
- informal a person who habitually tries to seduce women
- Also called: wolf note
- an unpleasant sound produced in some notes played on the violin, cello, etc, owing to resonant vibrations of the belly
- an out-of-tune effect produced on keyboard instruments accommodated esp to the system of mean-tone temperament
- cry wolf ⇒ to give a false alarm
- keep the wolf from the door ⇒ to ward off starvation or privation
- lone wolf ⇒ a person or animal who prefers to be alone
- wolf in sheep's clothing ⇒ a malicious person in a harmless or benevolent disguise
vb - (transitive) often followed by down: to gulp (down)
- (intransitive) to hunt wolves
Etymology: Old English wulf; related to Old High German wolf, Old Norse ulfr, Gothic wulfs, Latin lupus and vulpēs foxˈwolfish adj ˈwolfˌlike adj
'Lone wolf' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
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