Pl. wolves. Forms: Sing. 1–6 wulf, 3–4 wlf (dat. -ue), 4–6 wulfe, 4–7 woulf(e, 4–8 wolfe, (1 uulf, 4 Sc. volf, 5 wife, wulff, Sc. wouff, 5–6 wolff(e, 5–8 woolf(e, 6 wolphe, Sc. vuolfe, volue, 6, 8 Sc. wowf, 7 wolph, in Comb. wolve, 8 Sc. wouf, 9 Sc. woof), 3– wolf. Gen. 1 wulfes, 3 wulues, etc., 4–6 wolfes, 5 wolfys, 6 woulfes, woluis, 6–7 woolfes, -ues, 7 wolues, 8 wolve’s, 7– wolf’s. Pl. 1 wulfas, 3–4 wulues, 3–7 wolues, 4–6 woulfes, 4–7 wolfes, (4 woluys, -ez, wolwes, Sc. w(o)lfis, 5 woluess, vulves, 6 woulves, wolffes, wolfys, wulphes, Sc. woulfis, voulfis, wolffis, volf(f)is, voffis, voluis, vowis, wowes), 7 wolfs, 7–8 woolfs, 4– wolves. [Com. Teut. and Indo-European: OE. wulf = OFris. wolf, OS., MLG. wulf, MDu. wolf, wulf (Du. wolf), OHG., MHG., G. wolf, ON. ulfr (Sw. ulf, Da. ulv), Goth. wulfs:—OTeut. *wulfaz. Feminine formations in Germanic are OE. wylf, OHG. wulpa (MHG. wülpe), ON. ylgr.
Indo-Eur. *wļqwo- is represented outside Germanic by Skr. vŕkas, Zend vəhrkō, Gr. λύκος, Alb. ul’k, Arm. gail, L. (dial.) lupus, OSl. vlŭkŭ, OPruss. wilkis, Lith. vilkas, Lett. vìlks, and the corresp. fem. *wlqwī- by Skr. vṛkî, Lith. vìlké, Russ. volči-ca.
Various details of these relationships have been much disputed, and the proposed ultimate connection with Gr. ἔλκειν to draw, OSl. vlĕkq, Lith. velkù to tear, or L. vellĕre to pluck (see WOOL sb.) is problematical.]
1. A somewhat large canine animal (Canis lupus) found in Europe, Asia, and N. America, hunting in packs, and noted for its fierceness and rapacity. Also applied, with or without defining word, to various other species of Canis resembling or allied to this: see also PRAIRIE-wolf, TIMBER-wolf.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss. (Hessels), L 332. Lupus, wulf.
c. 1000. Be manna wyrdum, 12 (Gr.). Sceal hine wulf etan, har hæðstapa.
c. 1205. Lay., 21305. Þenne comed þe wlf wilde.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 5774. King edgar … het þat he him sende ech ȝer … Þre þousend of wolues in name of truage.
1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 1228. Lyons, libardes and wolwes kene.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. X. 207. Wandren as wolues, and wasten ȝif þei mouwen.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 3446. The wolfes in the wode, and the whilde bestes.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 16/2. I sought the, to thende that of the vulues ne of the euyll bestes thou were not eten ne all to torne.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxxii. 57. Throw hiddowis ȝowling of the wowf [rhyme growf].
1516. Kal. New Leg. Eng. (Pynson), 5 b. Two wood wulphes.
1533. Gau, Richt Vay (S.T.S.), 66. Etine with vowis lions and oder bestis.
1549. Compl. Scot., viii. 73. The beiris, lyons, voluis, foxis, and dogis.
1552. Huloet, Wolfes denne, lupanarium.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., I. i. 242. The trembling Lambe, inuironned with Wolues.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 753. The laps or fillets of a Wolues Liuer.
1624. Capt. Smith, Virginia, II. 27. The Woolues [are] not much bigger then our English Foxes.
c. 1643. Ld. Herbert, Autobiog. (1824), 90. The Wolves,… of which are found two sorts; the Mastiff Wolf thick and short…; the Greyhound Wolf long and swift.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett., I. III. 120. Two huge Woolfs.
a. 1718. Prior, Power, 306. The Wolve’s Portion, or the Vulture’s Prey.
1726–46. Thomson, Winter, 395. Assembling wolves in raging troops descend.
1730. Ramsay, Fables, Condemned Ass, 7. The wowf and tod.
1814. Lewis & Clark, Trav. Missouri (1815), I. 206. We caught in a trap a large gray wolf.
1855. Longf., Hiaw., XV. 48. The wolves howled from the prairies.
1858. Baird, Cycl. Nat. Sci., 99. The American wolf, Canis (lupus) occidentalis.
1880. Huxley, in Proc. Zool. Soc., 278. The Indian Wolf, Lupus pallipes, more nearly approaches the Jackals than any other Old-World Wolf I have seen.
1887. F. Cowper, Cædwalla, 55. I have a wolf’s snout hung about my neck, and no witch can hurt me.
1890. Mivart, Dogs, Jackals, etc., 6. The size and proportions of the Wolf roughly resemble those of a large mastiff.
1891. Flower & Lydekker, Study of Mammals, 548. The true Wolves are (excluding some varieties of the domestic Dog) the largest members of the genus, and have a wide geographical range.
1902. Nature, 30 Oct., 661/1. The attitude generally given to the South American maned wolf in museums and figures is incorrect, the creature carrying its head very low.
b. In comparisons, with allusion to the fierceness or rapacity of the beast; often in contrast with the meekness of the sheep or lamb.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. x. 16. Heonu ic sendo iuih suæ scip in middum vel inmong uulfa.
c. 1205. Lay., 1545. Corineus heom rasde to swa þe rimie wulf.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 31. [He] Bigon anan ase wed wulf to weorrin hali chirche.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 5680. No licchere is broþer him nas þane wolf is a lomb.
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 4047. Al so wolf þe schip gan driue, Arthour smot hem after swiþe.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 10207. He fore with his fos in his felle angur, As a wolfe in his wodenes with wethurs in fold.
1562. Winȝet, Cert. Tractatis, i. Wks. (S.T.S.), I. 14. The reularis in the middis of it ar lyke woulfis rauisching thair pray.
1605. Shaks., Lear, III. iv. 96. Hog in sloth, Foxe in stealth, Wolfe in greedinesse.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, I. 176. Unhappy France! Fiercer than evening wolves thy bitter foes Rush o’er the land.
1815. Byron, Destr. Sennacherib, 1. The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold.
1860. All Year Round, No. 63. 307/1. I’m as hungry as a wolf; run, or I shall eat thee!
2. A figure or representation of a wolf.
1562. Legh, Armory, 97 b. The fielde is Azure, a wolfe Saliaunte, Argent.
1610. Guillim, Heraldry, III. xv. 145. Hee beareth Gules, two Wolues passant, Argent.
1727. Colden, Hist. Five Ind. Nations, Introd. (1747), 1. Three Tribes or Families, who distinguish themselves by three different Arms or Ensigns, the Tortoise, the Bear, and the Wolf.
1870. C. C. Black, trans. Demmin’s Weapons of War, 548. Another very usual [armourers’] mark is a wolf.
1885. E. Castle, Sch. Fence, Plate I, Grooved single-edged blade, with ‘wolf’ or ‘fox’ mark.
b. Astron. The constellation Lupus (LUPUS 2).
1551. Recorde, Cast. Knowl., IV. (1556), 270. This Centaure with his righte hande dooth holde a Wolfe, whiche is a seuerall constellation made of 19 starres.
1868. Lockyer, Guillemin’s Heavens (ed. 3), 334. One detached branch of the Milky Way traverses the Wolf, and is lost in the Scorpion.
3. Applied to other animals in some way resembling wolves. a. (a) In S. Africa, a hyena: see also AARD-WOLF, STRAND-wolf, TIGER-wolf. (b) A Tasmanian marsupial, Thylacinus cynocephalus: see also ZEBRA-wolf.
[1596. T. Johnson, Cornucopiæ, B 4. A certaine Wolfe called Hyena.]
1812. Anne Plumptre, Lichtenstein’s S. Africa, II. 15. The spotted hyena, hyæna crocuta, is here called simply the wolf.
1891. Guide Zool. Gard., Melbourne (Morris). In this cage are two marsupial wolves, Thylacinus cynocephalus, or Tasmanian tigers as they are commonly called.
1908. Rider Haggard, Ghost Kings, iv. 53. She saw the hyenas, two of them, wolves as they are called in South Africa.
b. A name for various voracious fishes (after Gr. λύκος, L. lupus): see also SEA-WOLF 2, RIVER-wolf.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 251. Woolues of the sea which sum thynke to bee those fysshes that wee caule pikes.
1569. Blague, Sch. Conceytes, 153. The Cockatrice on a time went to the sea side in the clothing of a Monke, and called to him the Wolf … The Wolf fishe … knowing what he was, sayde [etc.].
1634. [? Brathwait], Strange Metam., C 3. The Pike … is called the Wolfe of the water.
1653. Walton, Angler, vii. 144. Pikes … called the Tyrant of the Rivers, or the Freshwater-wolf, by reason of his bold, greedy, devouring disposition.
1808. Neill, in Mem. Wernerian N. H. Soc. (1811), I. 539. Trigla Gurnardus. Grey Gurnard … known … as Captain, Hardhead, Goukmey, and Woof.
1896. Westm. Gaz., 16 Sept., 3/3. This defence of the ‘wolf of the stream’ will, we are afraid, be regarded in many quarters as nothing short of rank heresy.
† c. = wolf-spider: see 10 e. Obs.
1608. Topsell, Serpents, 247. Spyders … which by reason of their rauenous gut … haue purchased to themselues the names of wolfes, and hunting Spyders.
d. A name for various destructive insect larvæ, esp. that of the wolf-moth, which infests granaries.
1682. Lister, Godartius Of Insects, 65. A moist cloud like Honey dew, which by the scorching of the Sun, and the native heat of the Trees, is turned into live Wormes, which our Dutch Boors call Woolves.
1694. A. van Leeuwenhoek, in Phil. Trans., XVIII. 194. The Wolf is a small white Worm armed with two red Sheers or Teeth … wherewith it bores and feeds on the Grains of Corn.
1743. H. Baker, Microscope, 223.
1815. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., ii. (1818), I. 32. Leeuwenhoek’s wolf (Tinea granella).
4. A person or being having the character of a wolf; one of a cruel, ferocious or rapacious disposition. In early use applied esp. to the Devil or his agents (wolf of hell); later most freq., in allusion to certain biblical passages (e.g., Matt. vii. 15, Acts xx. 29), to enemies or persecutors attacking the ‘flocks’ of the faithful.
a. 900. O. E. Martyrol., 24 Jan., 30. Þu eart deofles wulf.
a. 900. Cynewulf’s Crist, 256. Hafað se awyrʓda wulf tostenced, deor dædscua, dryhten, þin eowde.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 149. Woluys of helle stranglen hem.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pars. T., ¶ 694. As seith seint Augustyn, they been the deueles wolues that stranglen the sheepe of Ihesu crist.
c. 1450. Godstow Reg., 18 (Kalendar, June) Cyryce and Iulytte, kepe us fro þe wulfe.
1497. Bp. Alcock, Mons Perfect., A iij. It putteth from us the wulf the deuyll deuourer of mannes soule.
1577. T. Kendall, Flowers Epigr., 43. The feend the woulfe of hell.
c. 1205. Lay., 21315. Ich am wulf & he is gat.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 120. Mon wroð is wulf, oðer leun, oðer unicorne.
13[?]. Cursor M., 20935 (Edin.). Paul … Eftirward bicom prechure, Schepe of wlue, meke of felle.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 513. [A priest] kepeth wel his folde So that the wolf ne made it nat myscarie.
c. 1450. Cov. Myst., vii. 102. From þe wulf to saue al shepe of his flok.
a. 1529. Skelton, Col. Cloute, 153. The wolf from the dore To werryn and to kepe From theyr goostly shepe.
1577. [see 9 j].
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, IV. (1922), 134. Since such a slye wolfe was entred among them, that could make justice the cloake of tirannye.
1637. Milton, Lycidas, 128. Besides what the grim Woolf with privy paw Daily devours apace.
1722. Croxall, Fables Æsop, xlii. 79. If Wolves sometimes creep into the Church in Sheep’s Cloathing.
1781. Cowper, Charity, 287. Let just restraint … Chain up the wolves and tigers of mankind.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, II. 173. Why who are these? a wolf within the fold! A pack of wolves!
1860. Emerson, Cond. Life, Fate, Wks. (Bohn), II. 321. What good, honest, generous men at home, will be wolves and foxes on change!
† b. Applied to a person, etc., who should be hunted down like a wolf. (Cf. WOLF’S-HEAD.) Obs.
[1375. Barbour, Bruce, VI. 470. To hunt hym out of the land, With hund and horn, rycht as he were A volf.]
1554[?]. W. Turner (title), The Huntyng of the Romyshe Vuolfe.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., II. iv. 13. Nay Warwicke, single out some other Chace, For I my selfe will hunt this Wolfe to death.
1606. Dekker, Seven Deadly Sins, 9. Hunt these English Wolues to death.
a. 1638. Brownlow, Rep., II. (1652), 113. He is called the Oppresser of the Poore, and Fleta calls him Woolfe which ought to be hunted from place to place.
5. As a type of a destructive or ‘devouring’ agency, esp. hunger or famine; often in such phrases as to keep the wolf from the door (now always = to ward off hunger or starvation).
c. 1470. Harding, Chron. XCVIII. xii. (1812), 181. Endowe hym now, with noble sapience By whiche he maye the wolf werre [v.r. bete] frome the gate.
1555. Instit. Gentl., G ij. This manne can litle skyl … to saue himself harmlesse from the perilous accidentes of this world, keping ye wulf from the doore (as they cal it).
c. 1645. Howell, Lett., VI. lx. (1650), I. 254. That Hee or Shee should have wherewith to support both,… at least to keep the Woolf from the door, otherwise ’twere a meer madnes to marry.
1679. J. Goodman, Penit. Pard., I. ii. (1713), 31. That hungry Wolf, want and necessity, which now stands at his door.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., I. 75/1. Poets call the Earth … the Woolf of the Gods, because it devours and consumes every thing.
1755. Mem. Capt. P. Drake, II. v. 176. Business began to flag, and the most I could do was to keep the Wolf from the Door.
1858. [see 9 a].
1891. H. Herman, His Angel, 73. It makes a lot of difference to one’s comfort and one’s happiness if the wolf is not scratching at the door.
b. Applied to a ravenous appetite or craving for food.
1576. Baker, Gesner’s Jewell of Health, 66 b. The water cureth that sore feeding, which most men name the Wolfe.
c. 1600. G. Peele’s Merrie Jests, 18. Hauing as villanous a Wolfe in his belly as George.
1693. Humours Town, 38. There is a monstrous Disease … in Nature, which they … call the Wolf, which makes the distemper’d eat beyond Reason.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., x. I know thine appetite is a wolf…. Canst thou yet hold out an hour without food?
1848. Mrs. Gaskell, Mary Barton, vi. There was no breakfast to lounge over; their lounge was taken in bed, to try … to deaden the gnawing wolf within.
6. A name for certain malignant or erosive diseases in men and animals (see quots.); esp. = LUPUS 4. Obs. or dial.
1559. Morwyng, Evonymus, 86. Aqua vitae is commodious and profitable … against the disease called the Wulfe.
1572. J. Jones, Bathes Buckstone, 16 b. Frettinge vlceres, wolues in the brest, and many daungerous pustles.
1576. Turberv., Venerie (1908), 230. The disease called the Wolfe, which is a kernell or round bunch of flesh, which groweth … vntill it kill the dogge.
1577. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. 131. A disease [in cattle] which they call the Woolfe, others the Tayle [TAIL sb.1 10].
1589. Nottingham Rec., IV. 225. A poore woman that had a woolfe in her legge.
1684. J. S., Profit & Pleas. United, 207 (Horse), Wolf, or over-growing of the Flesh. Ibid., 208. The Shee-Wolf, or Boyls and Knobs on the Foot [of a horse].
1709. Brit. Apollo, II. No. 2. 2/2. What is call’d by … Surgeons a Wolf, is a sort of Cancerous Ulcer, more properly so called when in the Legs.
1741. [see TAIL sb.1 10].
1796. Pegge, Anonym. (1809), 108. The common people usually call a cancer in the breast a Wolf.
1801. Sporting Mag., XVII. 153/2. Clegg—Surgeon, Apothecary, and Bone-setter—cures all sorts of cancers, wens, and wolves.
† b. = wolf’s-tooth: see 10 f. Obs.
1607. Markham, Cavel., VII. xxxvii. 54. The woolfes … are two sharp teeth more then nature allowes, growing out of the vpper iawes, nexte to the great teeth.
7. A name for apparatus of various kinds. † a. An ancient military engine with sharp teeth, employed for grasping battering-rams used by besiegers. Obs.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of A., II. xxxvi. K vj. Men make another engyn whiche is called wolffe that hath an yron bowed with grete and sharp teeth whiche engyn is in suche manere sette to the walle that hyt cometh and gropith the maste of the mowton, and holdeth it so fast that hit can not be drawe nother forward nor bakward.
1632. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Eromena, 150. Nor had they as much as iron Wolves [orig. lupi] and Crows to graspe the Ram withall.
b. A kind of fishing-net: also wolf-net (see 10 e).
1725. Bradley’s Family Dict., Wolf, the name of a Net that is a great destroyer of Fish, as well in Rivers as in Ponds.
1847. Halliwell.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Wolf, a kind of fishing-net.
c. Textile Manuf. A willow or willy (WILLY sb.1 3). (Cf. G. wolf, Sw. vulf.)
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Wolf, a beating or opening machine, for tearing apart the tussocks of cotton as delivered in the bale.
8. Mus. a. ‘The harsh howling sound of certain chords on keyed instruments, particularly the organ, when tuned by any form of unequal temperament’ (Grove’s Dict. Mus.); a chord or interval characterized by such a sound.
After G. wolf (Arnolt Schlick, Spiegel der Orgelmacher, 1511).
1788. in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Music (1871), 22. By this means the temperature of all thirds and ‘fifths’ can be highly improved, and what is called the ‘wolfe’ is entirely done away.
1889. Hipkins, in Grove’s Dict. Mus., IV. 188. The G♯ to the E♭, he [sc. Schlick] calls the ‘wolf,’ and says it is not used as a dominant chord to cadence C♯. Ibid., 485. In the mean-tone system … there is one fifth out of tune to this extent [nearly half a semitone]…. There are also four false thirds, which are sharp to about the same extent…. All chords into which any of these five intervals enter are intolerable, and are ‘wolves.’
b. In instruments of the viol class, a harsh sound due to faulty vibration in certain notes.
1876. Stainer & Barrett, Dict. Mus. Terms.
1884. Haweis, Mus. Life, 225. A slight mistake in position [of the sound-bar], a looseness, an inequality or roughness of finish, will produce that hollow teeth-on-edge growl called the ‘wolf.’
1901. D. S. Meldrum, in Blackw. Mag., July, 15/2. There’s a hantle o’ wolfs on my father’s strings.
9. Phrases. a. To cry ‘wolf’: to raise a false alarm (in allusion to the fable of the shepherd boy who deluded people with false cries of ‘Wolf!’). b. To keep the wolf from the door: see 5. c. To have or hold a wolf by the ears [= Gr. τῶν ὠτῶν ἔχειν τὸν λύκον, L. lupum auribus tenēre]: to be in a precarious situation or predicament (see quots.). † d. A hair of the same wolf: cf. DOG sb. 15 e. † e. To howl among wolves [= F. hurler avec les loups]: to adapt oneself to one’s company, though one disapproves of it. f. A wolf in a lamb’s skin, in sheep’s clothing, etc.: a person who conceals malicious intentions under an appearance of gentleness or friendliness (in allusion to Matt. vii. 15). † g. To be in the wolf’s mouth [cf. F. à la gueule du loup]: to be in deadly peril. h. To see or have seen a wolf [= Gr. λύκον ἰδεῖν, etc.]: to be tongue-tied (from the old belief that a man on seeing a wolf lost his voice). i. To wake a sleeping wolf: to invite trouble or disturbance (cf. DOG sb. 15 k). j. In various proverbial expressions.
a. [1692. R. L’Estrange, Fables, ccclx. 332. The Boy … would be Crying a Wolf, a Wolf, when there was none, and then could not be Believed when there was.]
1858. Mrs. Craik, Woman’s Th. about Women, xii. 316. She begins to suspect she is ‘not so young as she used to be’; that, after crying ‘Wolf’ ever since the respectable maturity of seventeen—… the grim wolf, old age, is actually showing his teeth in the distance.
1886. Baring-Gould, Court Royal, xxxviii. This is Beavis’ cry of wolf, is it?
c. 1550. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 425. The Bishop of Rome,… as the prouerbe is, helde the woulfe by both eares,… he coueted to gratifie the kyng, and also feared themperours displeasure.
1631. Quarles, Samson, xi. 63. I have a Wolfe by th’ eares; I dare be bold, Neither with safety, to let goe, nor hold: What shall I doe?
1884. Times, 29 Oct. 9/3. These expressions come from a man who has a wolf by the ears, whose task is well-nigh desperate, and who feels himself shamefully abandoned.
d. 1614. B. Jonson, Bart. Fair, I. iii. ’Twas a hot night with some of vs, last night, Iohn: shal we pluck a hayre o’ the same wolfe, to-day?
e. 1578. Timme, Calvin on Gen., vi. 181. This diuelishe prouerbe … we must howle among the Wolues.
1649. Bp. Hall, Cases Consc. (1650), 187. What do you howling amongst Wolves, if you be not one?
f. [c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 6260. Who-so toke a wethers skin, And wrapped a gredy wolf therin.]
c. 1460. Wisdom, 490, in Macro Plays, 51. Ther ys a wolffe in a lombys skyn.
1533. More, Debell. Salem, xvi. 87. He wyl play the woulfe in a lambes skynne.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., I. iii. 55. Thou Wolfe in Sheepes array.
1718. Breval, Play is the Plot, I. i. 9. Mercy o’ me! what have we here then? a Wolf in Sheep’s cloathing?
1722. [see 4].
1857. Trollope, Three Clerks, xiv. Why had this tender lamb been allowed to wander out of the fold, while a wolf in sheep’s clothing was invited into the pasture-ground?
g. 1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 42. Þan was Eilred in þe wolfes mouth.
h. [1480. Caxton, Mirrour, II. xv. 100. Yf a wulf and a man see that one that other fro ferre, he that is first seen becometh anon aferd.
1562. Legh, Armory, 98.]
1575. A. Fleming, Virg. Bucol., IX. 29. Mœris holdes his tounge, The wolfe hath spide out Mœris fyrst.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Past., IX. 75. My Voice grows hoarse; I feel the Notes decay: As if the Wolves had seen me first to Day.
1767. Fawkes, trans. Idyll. Theocritus, xiv. 30. ‘What are you mute?’ I said—a waggish guest, ‘Perhaps she’s seen a Wolf,’ rejoin’d in jest.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xviii. Our young companion has seen a wolf,… and he has lost his tongue in consequence.
i. 1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., I. ii. 174. Since al is wel, keep it so: wake not a sleeping Wolfe.
j. c. 1412. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 3064. A fflye folweþ the honye: Þe wolf, careyn.
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 202. We saie whishte, the Woulfe is at hande, when the same man cometh in the meane season, of whom we spake before. [After L. lupus in fabula.]
1577. Wolton, Cast. Christians, B iiij b. Lyons … doo not one encounter another, the Serpent stingeth no Serpent: but Man is a Woolfe to Man.
1643. J. Taylor (Water P.), Lett. sent to London, 6. It is a hard world when one Wolfe eates another.
1721. Kelly, Scot. Prov., Y 67. You have given the Wolf the Wedder to keep.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 103. I mourn the pride And av’rice that make man a wolf to man.
1872. Browning, Fifine, ix. If hunger, proverbs say, allures the wolf from wood.
10. attrib. and Comb. a. Simple attrib., as wolf bark, bite, chase, den, fur, growl, hair, hunt, kind, pack, pest, tail, track, -trap; appositive, as wolf ancestry, bitch, burd (= offspring), cub, dam, nurse, whelp; in connection with belief in lycanthropy or the association of human beings with wolves, as wolf boy, brethren, charm, child, clan, dance, devil, life, man, mask, people, race, totem, type, woman; also wolf-belt, -shirt. b. Objective, as wolf-catcher, -hunter, -hunting, -rider, -scaring, -slaying, -spearing sbs. and adjs. c. Agential or instrumental, as wolf-begotten, -haunted, -moved adjs. d. Similative and parasynthetic, as wolf-colo(u)red, -eyed, -grey, -headed, -shaped adjs.; also wolf-like adj. and adv.
1860. O. W. Holmes, Elsie V., iii. The great cur showed his teeth,—and the devilish instincts of his old *wolf-ancestry looked out of his eyes.
1845. R. W. Hamilton, Pop. Educ., ix. 251. Was that the *wolf-bark of the Corsican dynasty?
1866. J. B. Rose, trans. Ovid’s Met., 73. The *wolf-begotten Nape.
1883. Stallybrass, Grimm’s Teut. Mythol., III. 1094. Our oldest native notions make the assumption of wolf-shape depend on arraying oneself in a *wolf-belt or wolf-shirt.
1410. Master of Game (MS. Digby 182), vi. When þe *wolfe bycche hath hir whelpes.
1820. Scott, Abbot, xix. He who speaks irreverently of the Holy Father … is the cub of a heretic wolf-bitch.
1873. Fayrer, Clin. Observ. India, 261. *Wolf Bite of the Forearm.
1857. Dalton (title), The *Wolf-Boy of China.
1892. Rider Haggard, Nada, xiv. As yet the *Wolf-Brethren and their pack killed no men.
1827. Scott, Highl. Widow, v. There shall never be … dirge played, for thee or thy bloody *wolf-burd.
1611. Cotgr., Louvetier, a *Wolfe-catcher.
1644. Early Recs. Portsmouth, R. I. (1901), 33. That the wolfe Catcher shall be payed out of the tresuery.
1921. Chamb. Jrnl., July, 473/1. He had with him a bottle of hootch of about the same potency as the *wolf-charms he used.
1835. C. F. Hoffman, Winter in West, I. 244. That most exciting of sports, a *wolf-chase on horseback.
1859. Lang, Wand. India, 268. In this district … ‘a *wolf child,’ as the natives of India express it, was found some years ago.
1890. Frazer, Golden Bough, iv. II. 351. The Indians of this part of America are divided into totem clans, of which the *Wolf clan is one of the principal.
1779. Forrest, Voy. N. Guinea, 135. The largest bird of Paradise … The breast … is black, or *wolf-coloured.
1817. Scott, Harold, I. viii. A she-wolf, and her *wolf-cubs twain.
1860. G. H. K., Vac. Tour., 130. Five or six active wolf-cubs.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 55. Lyke rauening *woolfdams vpsoackt and gaunted in hunger.
1908. Sunset Mag., April, 566/1. A *wolf-dance [by] painted naked savages.
c. 1440. Alphabet of Tales, 397. Þai fand in þe wud a *wulfe den & þer was wulfe-whelpis þerin, bod þer dam was away.
1895. Kipling, 2nd Jungle Bk., 70. We will teach them to shelter *Wolf-devils!
1866. Lytton, Lost Tales Miletus, Fate Calchas, 86. A *wolf-eyed rover.
1883. ‘Ouida,’ Wanda, I. 15. The little fierce half-naked boy who in frost was wrapped in *wolf-fur.
1863. Baring-Gould, Iceland, 118. Coarse *wolf grey hair.
1895. Kipling, 2nd Jungle Bk., 223. A deep *wolf-growl that silenced the curs.
1865. Baring-Gould, Were-wolves, v. 59. When the *wolf-hair began to break out and his bodily shape to change.
1865. Kingsley, Herew., Prel. The dark *wolf-haunted woods.
1898. Saga-Bk. Viking Club, Jan., 35. Two *wolf-headed serpents.
1835. C. F. Hoffman, Winter in West, II. 12. I was on a *wolf-hunt by moonlight.
1841. Ir. Penny Jrnl., 8 May, 355. He took the spear from the *wolf-hunter’s hand.
1690. Temple, Misc., II. iv. 44. In his *Wolf-Huntings … when he used to be abroad in the Mountains three or four Days together.
1731–2. Norwich Mercury, 19–26 Feb., 1/1. The King went a Wolf-hunting.
1841. Ir. Penny Jrnl., 8 May, 353. No particular breed of dogs was ever kept for wolf-hunting in this country.
1892. Rider Haggard, Nada, xiv. Galazi asked him if he would … rule with him over the *wolf-kind. Ibid. The desire of this *wolf-life.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, Manger Louvichement, to eate *Wolfe like.
1593. Q. Eliz., Boeth., IV. pr. iii. 51. The violent robber of others goodes … swellith in coueting, & [thou] mayst call him woolf lyke, feerce & contentious.
1612. J. Davies, Muses Sacrif. (Grosart), 82/2. Our Wolfe-like Appetites.
1725. Pope, Odyss., X. 513. Will you … wolf-like howl away the midnight hour?
1844. Kinglake, Eöthen, i. Big wolf-like dogs.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., II. (Ireland), 83. Some … doe affirme, that certaine men in this tract are yeerly turned into Wolves [marg. *Wolf-men].
1892. Rider Haggard, Nada, xiv. I have become a wolf-man. For with the wolves I hunt and raven.
1913. Frazer, Golden Bough, xi. (ed. 3), II. 271. Indians dressed in wolf-skins and wearing *wolf-masks.
1868. Morris, Earthly Par., I. II. 489. *Wolf-moved battered shields, O’er poor dead corpses.
1887. Bowen, Virg. Æneid, I. 275. The yellow skin of his [sc. Romulus’s] *wolf-nurse.
1895. Sir H. Maxwell, Duke of Britain, viii. 105. Supposing the *wolf-pack overwhelmed you.
1892. Rider Haggard, Nada, xvi. That *wolf-people of yours.
1872. Gentl. Mag., Dec., 680. We hear no more of the *wolf-pest till the days of Queen Mary.
1911. A. Lang, in Encycl. Brit., XIX. 137/1. The … totem of the *wolf-race of men.
1848. Lytton, Harold, V. i. Belsta, and Heidr, and Hulla … the *wolf-riders.
1804. Campbell, Soldier’s Dream, 6. The *wolf-scaring faggot that guarded the slain.
1891. J. Wager, in Hardwicke’s Sci.-Gossip, XXVII. 1 Oct., 233/1. Their insatiable brother, the *wolf-shaped Mänagarm, sought to fill his capacious maw with the blood of dying men.
1883. *wolf-shirt [see wolf-belt].
1649. C. Wase, Sophocles, Electra, 1. [Apollo] the *wolf-slaying god.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xii. III. 136, note. In a poem published as late as 1719, and entitled Macdermot,… wolfhunting and *wolfspearing are represented as common sports in Munster.
a. 1674. Milton, Hist. Moscovia, i. Wks. 1857, VIII. 431. The Russe of better sort goes … on his Sled … drawn with a horse well deckt; with many Fox or *Wolve-tails about his neck.
1911. J. A. MacCulloch, Relig. Anc. Celts, xiv. 218. An early *wolf-totem may have been associated, because of the animal’s nocturnal wanderings in forests, with the underworld.
1780. Edmondson, Her., II. Gloss., *Wolf-Trap is a German bearing. This trap is made of a stick, bent like the head of a pick-ax, and having in the centre a ring, whereto the collar is fixed.
1883. Stevenson, Treas. Isl., xxx. If we both get alive out of this wolf-trap, I’ll do my best to save you.
c. 1440. *wolf-whelp [see wolf-den].
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xvi. He was the imprisoned wolf-whelp, which at the first opportunity broke his chain.
1863. W. K. Kelly, Curios. Indo-Europ. Tradit., 252. Mention is made of a *wolfwoman in the Mabinogion.
e. Special Combs.: wolf-berry, a N. American shrub, Symphoricarpus occidentalis, allied to the snowberry; † wolf-claw = wolf’s-claw (see f); wolf-drum, a drum with head made of wolfskin; † wolf-fly, a kind of large fly that preys upon other insects; wolf-greyhound, a greyhound used in hunting wolves; † Wolfland, a former nickname for Ireland; wolf-madness, a form of mania in which a man imagines himself to be a wolf (= LYCANTHROPY 1); wolf-moth (see quot., and cf. 3 d); wolf-net = 7 b; wolf-note = 8 b; wolf-platform Archæol., a hill-side embankment in the form of a platform, suggested to have been used as a means of defence against the wolves of the lowlands; † wolf-sheep, a tribute of a sheep paid by a tenant for protection against wolves; wolf-spear, a wolf-hunter’s spear; wolf-spider, a spider of the family Lycosidæ, which hunts after and springs upon its prey; wolf-stone (cf. DOG-STONE); † wolf-thistle = wolf’s-thistle (see f); wolf-tick, a tick of the genus Ixodes infesting wolves and dogs; wolf-tooth = wolf’s-tooth (see f). See also WOLF-DOG, etc.
1834. G. Don, Gen. Syst. Gard., III. 451. *Wolf-berry.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, III. clvii. 1374. *Woolfe claw Mosse.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. I. III. Furies, 107. At the sound of *Wolf-Drum’s rattling thunder Th’affrighted Sheep-skin-Drum doth rent in sunder.
1658. Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Insectes, 934. The first … called in Latine, Lupus, in English, the *Wolf fly,… feeds especially upon flies, if he cannot come by these he preys upon other Insects.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl. Suppl., s.v. Lupus.
1829. Glover’s Hist. Derby, I. 177. Asilus, Wolf Fly.
1825. Scott, Talism., vi. Three alans, as they were then called (*wolf-greyhounds, that is) of the largest size.
1692. Advice to Painter, 20. A chilling Damp, And *Wolfe-land Howl, run thro’ the rising Camp.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xii. III. 136, note. In William’s reign Ireland was sometimes called by the nickname of Wolf land.
1662. Bayfield, Treat de Morb., 49. Lupina insania, *Wolf-madness.
1854. Jrnl. Mental Sci., 52/1. On Lycanthropy or Wolf-madness, a Variety of Insania Zoanthropica, by N. Parker.
1863. Wood, Illustr. Nat. Hist., III. 544. Another species…, popularly called the *Wolf-moth (Tinea granella),… haunts granaries and malthouses, and does great damage by feeding on the grains and fastening them together with its silken web.
1819. Rees, Cycl., *Wolf-Net,… a kind of net used in fishing, which takes great numbers, and has its name from the destruction it causes.
1915. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc., XVIII. 85. On all stringed instruments of the violin type a certain pitch can be found which it is difficult and often impossible to produce by bowing. This note is called the *‘wolf-note.’
1906. Cornh. Mag., May, 615. At … [the] base [of the hill] the great *wolf platforms would be set in a position where a conflict might be carried on without stampeding the herds in the camp above.
1528. in Archæologia, LIII. 381. He hath yerely … one shepe of the best instede of a tolle called the *wolfe shepe, for the whch also he ys bownde to hunt the wolfe once in the yere at the leaste.
1823. Mrs. Hemans, Siege of Valencia, vi. Cid’s Battle-Song. That her sons … may … sharpen the point of the red *wolf-spear.
1608. Topsell, Serpents, 270. One kind of Autumnall Lupi, or *Wolfe-Spyder.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl. Suppl., s.v. Lupus.
1863. Wood, Illustr. Nat. Hist., III. 656. The Lycosidæ, or Wolf-spiders,… take their prey in fair chase instead of catching it in nets. Ibid., 657. About sixteen or seventeen British species of Wolf-spider are already known.
1640. in Entick, London (1766), II. 181. For a dog-stone, 2. 6. For a *wolf-stone, 2. 0.
1525. Grete Herbal, cxxii. (1529), H ij. De cameleonta. *Wolfe thystle.
1579. Langham, Gard. Health (1633), 683. Wolfthistle.
1861. Hulme, trans. Moquin-Tandon, II. VI. iv. 302. The Ticks, or Ixodes…. In France the two principal species are—1, the *Wolf Tick; 2, Reticulated Tick.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl. Suppl., *Wolf-Tooth.
f. Combinations with genitive, as wolf’s-hide (attrib.): wolf’s-claw, a name for club-moss (= LYCOPODIUM 1); wolf’s-foot, † (a) ? the sea-wolf, Anarrichas lupus; (b) = wolf’s-claw; † wolf’s-thistle, a species of carline thistle, Carlina acaulis; wolf’s-tooth, Farriery [cf. MHG. wolfzan, G. wolfszahn] (see quots.); † wolf’s-wort = WOLFWORT a. See also WOLF’S-BANE, etc.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, III. lxxi. 412. The fifth kinde of Mosse, called *Wolfes clawe.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl. Suppl., s.v. Lycopodium, The common wolf’s claw moss.
1861. S. Thomson, Wild Fl., III. (ed. 4), 289. The … common club-moss, or wolf’s-claw, or ‘stag’s-horn.’
1443. in Bekynton’s Corr. (Rolls), II. 238. Chattok dedit piscem vocatum Pedulupum aut *Wolfes-foote al. Luperius.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, III. clvii. 1374. Called … in English Woolfes foote, or Woolfes clawe, and likewise Club Mosse.
1859. H. Kingsley, G. Hamlyn, vi. Crowd close, little snipes, among the cup-moss and wolf’s foot.
1866. Lytton, Lost Tales Miletus, 125. A *wolf’s-hide mantle for his robe of state.
a. 1400–50. Stockh. Med. MS., 179. *Wolfys thystyl: camalion.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, Suppl., Wooluisthistle is Chamæleon.
1565–6. Blundevil, Horsemanship, IV. xlvi. (1580), 19 b. A horse … hauing two extraordinarie teeth called the *Woolfes teeth, which be two little teeth growing in the vpper iawes, next vnto the great grinding teeth.
1737. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1756), I. 323. A Horse is said to have Wolves-Teeth, when his Teeth grow either Outwards or Inwards so that their Points prick and wound either the Tongue, or Gum when he eats.
1864. E. Mayhew, Illustr. Horse Management, 146. At one year old,… frequently at birth, little nodules of bone, without fangs, merely attached to the gums, appear in front of each row of grinders. These are vulgarly denominated ‘Wolves’ Teeth.’
1575. Banister, Chyrurg., 95. Aconitum *woulfes wort.
Hence Wolfdom, the realm or domain of wolves, wolves collectively; Wolfhood, the state or condition of being a wolf; Wolfkin, a young wolf; Wolfless a., free from wolves.
1857. Sun, 21 Jan., 3/2. Before the House of Hanover or Stuart,… Alfred or Boadicea, *Wolfdom was, and is and is to be.
1889. J. Jacobs, Fables of Æsop, I. 209. To him cunning was foxiness,… cruelty, *wolfhood.
1706. Mrs. Centlivre, Basset-Table, V. 59. Oh! thou *Wollkin instead of Lambkin.
1864. Tennyson, Boädicea, 15. Make the carcase a skeleton;… wolf and wolfkin, from the wilderness, wallow in it.
1893. L. Stephen, in Contemp. Rev., Aug., 160. The sheep of a *wolfless region might lead a more wretched existence, and be less capable animals and more subject to disease and starvation then the sheep in a wolf-haunted region.
