verb (common).—To devour ravenously: hence WOLFER = a greedy feeder or guzzling tosspot: also A WOLF IN THE STOMACH = famished; TO KEEP THE WOLF FROM THE DOOR = to keep hunger and want at bay.
1513–25. SKELTON, Works (DYCE), ii. 132. To KEPE THE WOLFE FROM THE DORE.
1645. HOWELL, Familiar Letters. Indeed ’tis very fitting that hee or shee should have wherwith to support both, according to their quality, at least to KEEP THE WOLFE FROM THE DOOR, otherwise ’twere a meer madnes to marry.
d. 1704. T. BROWN, Works (1719), iv. 234. I am no Stranger, says she, to your Circumstances, and know with what Difficulty you KEEP THE WOLF FROM YOUR DOOR.
1885. The Field, 4 April. WOLFING down some food preparatory to fishing.
1897. MARSHALL, Pomes, 118. He just placed him ’gainst a shutter, and then fired him in the gutter, But the worn-out whiskey WOLFER calmly slumbered through it all.
PHRASES. DARK AS A WOLF’S MOUTH (or THROAT) = pitch dark; TO CRY WOLF = to raise a false alarm; TO HAVE A WOLF BY THE EARS (see quots.); TO SEE A WOLF = (1) to lose one’s voice, and (2) to be seduced (Fr. avoir vu le loup).
d. 1655. T. ADAMS, Works, III. 249. He that deals with men’s affections HATH A WOLF BY THE EARS; if we speak of peace, they wax wanton; if we reprove, they grow desperate.
1742–4. R. NORTH, The Life of Lord Guildford, ii. 2. He found himself so intrigued that it was like A WOLF BY THE EARS; he could neither hold it, nor let it go; and, for certain, it bit him at last.
1767. F. FAWKES, Theocritus, Idyllium xiv.
| ‘What! are you mute?’ I said—a waggish guest, | |
| ‘Perhaps she’s seen a WOLF,’ rejoin’d in jest. |
1823. SCOTT, Quentin Durward, xviii. ‘Our young companion has SEEN A WOLF,’ said Lady Hameline, alluding to an ancient superstition, ‘and has lost his tongue in consequence.’
