English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

wolfish +‎ -ly

Adverb edit

wolfishly (comparative more wolfishly, superlative most wolfishly)

  1. In a wolfish way.
    • 1847, Emily Brontë, chapter 1, in Wuthering Heights[1]:
      I [] filled up an interval of silence by attempting to caress the canine mother, who had left her nursery, and was sneaking wolfishly to the back of my legs, her lip curled up, and her white teeth watering for a snatch.
    • 1900, Joseph Conrad, chapter 38, in Lord Jim[2], Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood, page 385:
      He told me he would have roasted their toes rather than be baulked. I believe him. His men believed him too. They didn’t cheer aloud, being a dumb pack, but made ready wolfishly.
    • 1930, Dashiell Hammett, chapter 2, in The Maltese Falcon[3]:
      Spade grinned wolfishly, showing the edges of teeth far back in his jaw.
    • 1939, John Steinbeck, chapter 26, in The Grapes of Wrath[4], Penguin, published 1976, page 418:
      They took the plates. They ate silently, wolfishly, and wiped up the grease with the bread.

Translations edit