WOLF (wolves)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: wolves   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Wolf mean? 

• WOLF (noun)
  The noun WOLF has 5 senses:

1. any of various predatory carnivorous canine mammals of North America and Eurasia that usually hunt in packs

2. Austrian composer (1860-1903)

3. German classical scholar who claimed that the Iliad and Odyssey were composed by several authors (1759-1824)

4. a man who is aggressive in making amorous advances to women

5. a cruelly rapacious person

  Familiarity information: WOLF used as a noun is common.

• WOLF (verb)
  The verb WOLF has 1 sense:

1. eat hastily

  Familiarity information: WOLF used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WOLF (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of various predatory carnivorous canine mammals of North America and Eurasia that usually hunt in packs

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("wolf" is a kind of...):

canid; canine (any of various fissiped mammals with nonretractile claws and typically long muzzles)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wolf"):

wolf cub; wolf pup (a young wolf)

Canis lupus; gray wolf; grey wolf; timber wolf (a wolf with a brindled grey coat living in forested northern regions of North America)

Arctic wolf; Canis lupus tundrarum; white wolf (wolf of Arctic North America having white fur and a black-tipped tail)

Canis niger; Canis rufus; maned wolf; red wolf (reddish-grey wolf of southwestern North America)

brush wolf; Canis latrans; coyote; prairie wolf (small wolf native to western North America)

Holonyms ("wolf" is a member of...):

Canis; genus Canis (type genus of the Canidae: domestic and wild dogs; wolves; jackals)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Austrian composer (1860-1903)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Hugo Wolf; Wolf

Instance hypernyms:

composer (someone who composes music as a profession)

Sense 3

Meaning:

German classical scholar who claimed that the Iliad and Odyssey were composed by several authors (1759-1824)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Friedrich August Wolf; Wolf

Instance hypernyms:

classical scholar; classicist (a student of ancient Greek and Latin)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A man who is aggressive in making amorous advances to women

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

masher; skirt chaser; wolf; woman chaser

Hypernyms ("wolf" is a kind of...):

philanderer; womaniser; womanizer (a man who likes many women and has short sexual relationships with them)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A cruelly rapacious person

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

beast; brute; savage; wildcat; wolf

Hypernyms ("wolf" is a kind of...):

aggressor; assailant; assaulter; attacker (someone who attacks)

• WOLF (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they wolf    ... he / she / it wolfs   
Past simple: wolfed   
Past participle: wolfed   
-ing form: wolfing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Eat hastily

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

wolf; wolf down

Context example:

The teenager wolfed down the pizza

Hypernyms (to "wolf" is one way to...):

eat (take in solid food)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They wolf more bread

 Context examples 

The she-wolf was one leap behind One Ear and holding her own.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Make yourself easy, said the wolf, I will give you some good advice.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

“But let that go,” Wolf Larsen continued.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It was lucky the Scarecrow and the Woodman were wide awake and heard the wolves coming.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

"Where's Wolf?" she asked. "He was here a moment ago."

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

There was no cry from the woman, and the howling of the wolves was but short.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

But the wolf fled at sight of him.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

My God! it is a man-at-arms, and they pluck him limb from limb like hounds on a wolf.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Wolf 1061 system is important because it is so close and that gives other opportunities to do follow-up studies to see if it does indeed have life.

(Searching for Life on Wolf 1061 Exoplanet, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Wolf cautions, however, that greater forest edge sensitivity at lower latitudes doesn't mean there isn't also edge sensitivity in temperate zones.

(Forest fragmentation hits wildlife hardest in the tropics, National Science Foundation)