/ wʊlf; NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun
( pl. wolves / wʊlvz; NAmE /) a large wild animal of the dog family, that lives and hunts in groups :
a pack of wolves
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IDIOMS
- keep the wolf from the door
- throw sb to the wolves
- a wolf in sheep's clothing
—more at cry verb , lone
■ verb
[ vn ] wolf sth (down) ( informal ) to eat food very quickly, especially by putting a lot of it in your mouth at once
SYN gobble
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WORD ORIGIN
Old English wulf , of Germanic origin; related to Dutch wolf and German Wolf , from an Indo-European root shared by Latin lupus and Greek lukos . The verb dates from the mid 19th cent.