Wolf

woolf, n. the common name of certain species of the genus Canis —including the ravenous Common Wolf, the Aby in i an Wolf, the Antarctic Wolf, the Maned Wolf, and the Prairie Wolf or Coyote: anything very ravenous: a greedy and cunning person: ( obs. ) a tuberculous excrescence: ( mus. ) a harsh discord heard in the organ, .:— pl. Wolves .— v.i. to hunt for wolves.— v.t. ( slang ) to devour ravenously.— ns. Wolf′-dog , a dog of large breed kept to guard sheep, esp. against wolves; Wol′fer , one who hunts wolves; Wolf′-fish , a fierce and voracious salt-water fish—called also Sea-wolf and Cat-fish ; Wolf′-hound (see Borzoi ); Wol′fing , the hunting of wolves for their skins.— adjs. Wol′fish , Wol′vish , like a wolf either in form or quality: rapacious.— adv. Wol′fishly .— ns. Wolf′kin , Wolf′ling , a young wolf; Wolf's′-bane , aconite; Wolf's′-foot , -claw , the club-mo Lycopodium ; Wolf′-skin , the skin or pelt of a wolf; Wolf's′-peach , the tomato; Wolf′-spī′der , the tarantula; Wolf′-tooth , a small supernumerary premolar in a horse.— Cry wolf , to give a false alarm—from the story of the boy who cried 'Wolf' when there was none, and was not believed when there was one; Have a wolf by the ears , to be in a very difficult situation; Have a wolf in the stomach , to be ravenously hungry; Keep the wolf from the door , to keep out hunger; See a wolf , to lose one's voice, in allusion to an old superstition. [A.S. wulf ; Ger. wolf ; L. lupus ; Gr. lykos .]