wolf pack
17
3.2
- noun
- /wʊlf pæk/
- As night fell, the howls of a wolf pack echoed through the valley.
- follow a wolf pack
Examples
-
The wolf pack worked together to bring down a large elk for dinner.
-
Six of the management areas contained established wolf packs; the other six did not.
Blog text (31) -
Other times, he would meet wild wolf packs in the woods and hunt with them for days.
Fiction book (2000) -
When a wolf pack confronts a moose, their eyes lock.
-
Two wolves from the Washington state gray wolf pack were killed for preying on cattle.
Blog text (16) -
In unspoken unison, the wolf pack set out after the scent.
Fiction book (1992) -
Ask a villager at the foot of a mountain where a wolf pack is living, and he may well stare at you in astonishment.
Academic text (1996) -
A couple of years ago in this area (Anchorage), there was a wolf pack roaming JBER.
Blog text (20) -
Each member of the wolf pack contributes to the hunt, ensuring everyone has food.
Synonyms
326
1.0
A group of animals or people who act together
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound literally combines 'wolf' (a hunting animal) + 'pack' (a group), so a B1 learner would readily infer a group that hunts or acts together. However the specific historical/military sense referring to groups of submarines attacking convoys is a metaphorical extension requiring world-knowledge; the exact referent (submarines) is not directly predictable from the constituents. Because the general group-meaning is transparent but the nautical/military sense is not fully derivable, this is rated semi-transparent.
Etymology
Wolf pack comes from the clear image of wolves living and hunting together in a tight group. In a wolf pack, each wolf has a job and they move together to catch prey, so the phrase means 'a group of wolves that live and hunt together'.