wolfish

• wolvish

From wolf + -ish.

• IPA^(key): /ˈwʊlfiʃ/, /ˈwʊlviʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: Woolfish

wolfish (comparative more wolfish, superlative most wolfish)

1. Of, like, or pertaining to a wolf.

   Synonyms: lupine, wolfy, wolflike

   1. Suggestive or characteristic of a wolf.

      a wolfish appetite

      • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter I, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:

        “[…] Here, Fangs! Fangs!” he ejaculated at the top of his voice to a ragged wolfish-looking dog […]

      • 1903 July, Jack London, “The Law of Club and Fang”, in The Call of the Wild, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 44:

        He had never seen dogs fight as these wolfish creatures fought, and his first experience taught him an unforgetable lesson. It is true, it was a vicarious experience, else he would not have lived to profit by it.

2. Fierce; menacing; savage.

   Synonyms: barbaric, barbarous, truculent; see also Thesaurus:savage

• fish owl, fowlish