to wolf
8
6.1
- verb
- /wʊlf/
- Informal
- After the workout, I was so hungry that I wolfed down a huge plate of pasta.
Examples
-
Inmates typically have five to fifteen minutes to wolf down their food.
Academic text (2017) -
You just wolfed down half a sandwich before I even started.
-
And after the operation, you can wolf down the whole packet in one go.
-
The three of them are wolfing down a late lunch.
Fiction book (1996) -
Each of them could wolf down a good-sized dinner in ten seconds flat if it was put to them.
Fiction book (1997) -
At game's end, we ran home, wolfed down our cold chicken sandwiches, and then scurried off to the movies.
Academic text (2000) -
At the breakfast table, Rebecca was wolfing down her cereal with an eye on the clock.
Fiction book (1998) -
Chloe gives me a puzzled look, then starts to wolf down linguini and shrimp like she hasn't eaten in a week.
Fiction book (1999) -
On the Nepenthe, the guests wolfed down their food and poured from the salon, sipping from glasses of bubbly.
Fiction book (2001) -
While he eats his modest scrambled eggs and toast, they wolf down Amazonian platters of huevos rancheros, refried beans, and tortillas.
Fiction book (1991)
Synonyms
15
2.9
To eat food quickly because you are very hungry
8
5.8
Eat food very quickly when you are very hungry
1
9.0
To eat something quickly and greedily
1
9.9
To eat a lot of food quickly without control
To eat food quickly and greedily
To eat too much food in a greedy way
Antonyms
Idioms
- Informal
8
6.2
A person who seems friendly but is actually dangerous or dishonest
- Archaic
1
9.9
You are in a dangerous situation where giving up is as risky as staying
Phrasal Verbs
Compounds
- US
5
3.0
A large wild animal like a dog with gray fur that lives in forests and often hunts in packs
2
6.9
A large spider that hunts on the ground and runs to catch other animals instead of using webs
- Literature
1
9.9
A boy believed to have been raised by wolves who behaves like a wild animal
- Specialized
1
4.4
A white wolf that lives in Arctic North America and has a black-tipped tail
- US
1
6.0
A small wild animal that looks like a dog from western North America, often called a coyote
- Australian
1
9.9
A type of animal from Tasmania that looks like a dog, has stripes on its back, and is now extinct
1
9.5
A large wild dog from South America with long legs, reddish fur and long hair along its neck
- South African
A wild dog-like animal from northern Africa related to jackals and wolves
A large spider from southern Europe once thought to make people dance uncontrollably
- South African
A wild animal like a hyena that eats dead animals and lives in southern Africa
How Greedy
Surface Forms
Etymology
The verb wolf, seen in the phrase wolf down, comes from the idea of a hungry wolf, so to wolf food is to eat it quickly and carelessly, meaning 'to eat greedily'.