woeful 
2. Relating or pertaining to woe ; expressing 
woe ; characterized by sorrow or woe ; deplor- 
able. 
She . . . sings extemporally a woe/vl ditty. 
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 836. 
A Trumpet sliall sound from Heaven in wof\U and ter- 
rible Manner. Ilowetl, Letters, iv. 43. 
He llx)rd Ranelagti] died liard, as tiieir term of art is 
here, to express the wo/ui state of men who discover no 
religion at their death. Swift. 
O, woefvl day ! O, day of woe to me ! 
A. Philips, Pastorals, iv. 
3. Wretched; paltry; mean; pitifnl. 
What wo/ul stuff this madrigal would be ! 
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 418. 
=Syil. 2. Mournful, calamitous, disastrous, afflictive, mis- 
erable, grievous. See woe. 
woefully, wofully (w6'ful-i), adv. In a woeful 
manner. 
Which now among you, who lament so wofidly, . . . 
has suffered as he suffered? V. Kiiox, Works, VI., serm. v. 
It is a fact of which many seem wo/ully ignorant. 
//. Spetuxr, Social Statics, p. 484. 
woefulness, wofulness (wo'fiil-nes), n. [< 
ME. vcofuhiesHe ; < woeful + -ncss.'] The state 
or quality of being woeful ; misery ; calamity. 
Thys day can noght be saad the heuincsse mad, 
Noght halfe the wofulneftse the cite hauing. 
Horn. 0/ Partenay (E. E. T. S.\ 1. 64S. 
The lamenting Elegiack . . . surely is to be praysed, 
either for compassionate accompanying iust causes of 
lamentation, or for rightly paynting out how weake be the 
passions of voo/xdnegge. 
Sir P. Sidney, ApoL for Poetrie, p. 44. 
woesome (wo'sum), «. [Sc. tcnc«om<;; < woe + 
-some.] Woeful; sad; mournful. 
woe-wearied (wo'wer'id), a. Wearied out with 
woe or grief. [Rare.] 
My ww-wearied tongue is mute and dumb, 
ShaJc., Kich. III., iv. 4. 18. 
woe-weary t, a. [ME. ico-u-erie; < icoc + iccari/.] 
Sad at heart. 
Wo-werie and wetschod wente ich forth after, 
As a recheles renke that reccheth nat of sorwe. 
Piers Ptoteman (C), xxi. 1. 
woe-wom (wo'wom), n. Worn or marked by 
woe or grief. 
In lively mood he spoke, to wile 
From Wilfrid's woe-tpom cheek a smile. 
Scott, Rokeby, v. 14. 
Woful, wofully, etc. See woeful, etc. 
WOiwode, wojwoda (woi'wod, woi-wo'da), H. 
Same as voiroih . 
WOke^t, ». A Middle English fonn of wreH. 
WOke^ (wok). Preterit and past participle of 
WOkenf, r. A Middle English form of weal-cn. 
WOktlB (wo'kus). n. [N. Amcr. Ind.] A coarse 
meal made by the Indians of tlie northwest from 
the seeds of Xymphiea {Nuphar) jMli/xepalum. 
the yellow pond-lily of that region. See poini- 
lUy, 1. 
Old ChalfKjiiln carried liis bajj of vofnut for foo<l. This 
is the roaated and irround seeds of the yellow water-lily, 
and looks something like cracked wheat. 
Ainer. Xat , Nov., 1889, p. 971. 
WOl^, f • An obsolete or dialectal form of uiU^. 
WOl'^, fifti: An obsolete or dialectal form of iceW'^. 
WOld^ (wold), H. [Formerly also tnmld; also 
dial, old ; < ME. ?fo/c/, wnhl, uwld, < AS. weald, 
icald, a wood, forest, = OS. OFries. uald = D. 
icoud = OHG. tcald, MHG. wait, G. wald, a wood, 
forest (> OF, i/anty bnishwood ?), = Icel. rol/r 
(gen. valhr for *vnldar), a field, plain; jierhaps 
orig. a huntinj^-ground, considered as * a posses- 
sion,* and 30 connected with AS. ffcweald (= G. 
gew(ilt=zJce]. raid), power, dominion, < wcaldan, 
etc., rule, possess: see wield. Of. Gr. a/oog (for 
^Fa'/.rFw; ?), a grove. Cf. w(ald.'\ An open tract 
of country ; a down. Tlie wolds of Vorkshire and Lin 
colnshire are high, rolling districts bare of woiHis. and ex- 
actly similar, both t4>fK>graphicalIy and geologically, to the 
downs of the more sontheni parta of I-ngland. The Cots- 
wold Hills, in (Uoucestershire. closely resemble tlie downs 
of Kent and SiiRsex and the wolds of Vorkshire and Lin- 
colnshire in every respect except the geological age of the 
formations hy which they are underlain, which, in the case 
of the*'<)t8wolds, is a calcareous rock of Jurassic, and not of 
Cretaceous age, as is the case with the other-mentioned 
wolds and downs. 
Who sees not agreatdifference betwixt . . . theWoi^/xln 
Lincolnshire and the Fens? liurtoii, Anat. of Mel., p. 259. 
Each hill and dale, each deepening glen and wold. 
lii/ron, Childe Harold, iL 88. 
The notes of the robin and bluebird 
Soundeil sweet upon irold and in wood. 
CoTUf/^Uow, Evangeline, li. 4. 
The voldif [of Yorkshire! constitute properly but one 
region, sloping froni a curved summit, whose extremities 
touch the sea at HamlMJmugh Head, and tlie Humber at 
Ferrihy ; but this crescent of hills is cut through by one 
continuous hollow. — the great Wold Valley from Settring- 
ton to Bridlington. PhUlipn, Vorkshire, p. 41. 
G059 
wold", ". See weJd^. 
wold^t, woldet. Obsolete forms of would. See 
wiia. 
WOldestOWt. A Middle English form of would- 
est thou. 
wolf (wulf), /(. ; pi. wolves (wulvz). [< ME. wolJ\ 
wulfj wlf, tclfc(p\. wolveSy iculves, ivolwcs, widfes)j 
< AS. WHlf(p\, tcidfas) = OS. wulf— OFries. wolf 
= D. wolf =UhG. LG.if«//=OHG. MHG. G. 
wolf = Icel. ulfr (for *vulfr) = Sw. ulf = Dan. 
ulv = Goth, iculfs = OBulg. vluku = Kuss. volkil 
= Lith. wilJcas = L. lupus (> It. liq)0 = Sp. Pg. 
lobo = F. loup) = Gr. '/.iKog = Skt. vrika, a wolf ; 
orig. type prob. *walkay *warkay altered various- 
ly into "wlaka (Gr. A/'koi), *wliipa (L. lupus), 
*wulpa (AS. wulf etc.), orig. 'tearer, render,' 
< V warky Skt. ■/ vra^clt, tear, Gr, e/.Kc/Vj pull. 
L. vulpes, fox, is prob. not connected. JVolf as 
a complimentary term for a warrior, is a con- 
stituent of many E. and G. names, as in Adolph, 
'noble-wolf,' Rudolph, 'glory-wolf,' etc. Cf. 
tccrwolf lupine'^, lycanthropy,GiQ-.'] 1. A digiti- 
grade carnivorous canine qiiadruped, Canis lu- 
pus, of the lupine or thooid series of Canidsp ; 
hence, some similar animal. The common wolf of 
Europe, etc., is yellowish or fulvous-gray, with harsh 
strong hair, erect pointed ears, and the tail straight or 
nearly so. The height at the shoulder is from 27 to 29 
inches. Wolves are swift of foot, crafty, and rapacious, 
and destructive enemies to the sheep-cote and fanii-yard; 
they associate in packs to hunt the larger quadrupeds, as 
the deer, the elk, etc. When hard pressed with hunger 
these packs not infrequently attack isolated travelers, 
and have been known even to enter villages and carry otf 
children. In general, however, wolves are cowardly and 
stealthy, approaching sheepfolds and f-irm- bull dings only 
at dead of night, making a rapid retreat if in the least dis- 
Coiiimon Wulf iC"««?'.f lupus ). 
turbed by a dog or a man. and exhibiting great cunning in 
the avoidance of traps. Wolves are still numerous in some 
parts of Europe, as France, Hungarj', Spain, Turkey, and 
Russia ; they probably ceased to exist in England al)out the 
end of the fifteenth century, and in .Scotland in the first 
part of the eighteenth century; the latter date prol)ably 
marks also the disappeara?ice of wolves in Ireland. Tlie 
wolves of North America are of two very distinct species. 
One of these is scarcely dilferent from the European, but 
is generally regarded as a variety, under the name of 
C. I. occidentalin. The usual color is a grizzled gray, luit 
it sports in many colors, as reddish and blackish. Most 
strains of the American wolf are larger and stouter than 
those of Europe. The gray wolf is also called the huffaio- 
ipol/, from its former al)undance in the buffalo-range, and 
timber-wolf, as distinguished from the prairie-wolf or 
coyote, Cani'jt latraris, a much smaller and very different 
animal, which lives chiefly in open country, in burrows in 
the ground, and in some respects resembles the jackal. 
(See coyote, with cut.) Yet other wolves, of rather numer- 
ous species, inhabit most parts of the world ; 8<mie grade 
into jackals (see TAow^t), others toward foxes (sec /oa>ivol/)\ 
and most of them interbreed easily with some varieties 
of the dog of the countries they respectively inhabit, the 
dog itself being a composite of a mixed wolf ancestry (see 
tcolf-dog, 2). 
2. A person noted for ravenousness, cruelty, 
cunning, or the like: used in opprobrium. 
Rescued is Orleans from the English wolves, 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI. (ed. Knight), L 6. 2. 
3. In (.'vtom,'. (a) A small naked cateqnllar, the 
larva of Tiuett fjraueHa.tho wolf-moth, which 
infests granaries, (b) The larva of a bot-fly; 
a warble. — 4. A tuberculous excrescence which 
rapidly eats away the flesh. See lupus^, 3. 
A tree that cureth the wtd/e with the shauings of the 
woo<l groweth in these parts. Ilakluyt's Voyayes. I. 304. 
If fiod should send a cancer upon thy face, or a woi/ 
into thy side, if lie should spread a crust of leprosy upon 
thy skin, what wouldst thou give to be but as now thou 
art? Jer. Taylor, Holy Living, ii. 0. 
5. In music: (a) The harsh discord heard in 
certain chorils of keyboard-instruments, espe- 
cially the organ, when tuned on some system 
of unequal temperament, in the mean-tone system, 
as usually applied, five intervals in each octave were dis- 
cordant - namely, 02-F>t, B-F;?, FJT- Ih. CJ-P', and CS-C. 
Under the modern system of equal temperament, the wolf 
is evenly distributed, and so practically unnoticed. (/>) 
A chord or interval in which such a discord 
appears, (r) In instruments of the \'iol class, 
a discordant or false vibration in a string when 
stopped at a certain point, usually due to a 
defect in the structure or adjustment of the 
wolf-fish 
instrument. Sometimes called wolf -note. — 6. 
A wooden fence placed across a ditch in the 
corner of a field, to prevent cattle from stray- 
ing into another field by means of the ditch. 
Halliwell. [Local, Eng.] — 7. Same as willow"^. 
E. H. Knight — Barking wolf, the coyote or prairie- 
wolf of North America, Canis latrans. See cut under 
coyote. — Black wolf, a melanistic variety of the common 
wolf, found in southerly parts of the United States. — 
Dark as a wolfs moutli or throat, pitch-dark. Scott. 
— Golclen wolf, the Tibetan wolf, Canis laniyer. Also 
called cAa7wo.— Gray WOlf. See def. 1.— Indian wolf, a 
certain Asiatic wolf, Canis pallipes, somewhat like a jack- 
al.— Marine wolf, in her. See marine.— "Pi^^ WOlf. See 
pied. — 'R.QCL wolf, a reddish or erythritic variety of the 
common wolf, found in the United States.— -Strand WOlf, 
See sfranrf-woi/.— Tasmanlan WOlf, a marsupial of Tas- 
mania, the thylacine dasyure, Thylacimis cynncephaltis : 
same as zebra-wolf. See cut under thylacine. — To cry 
wolf, to raise a false alarm: in allusion to the shepherd 
boy in a well known fable.— To have a WOlf hy the ears, 
to have a difficult task. 
He found himself so intrigued that it was like a wolf by 
the ears; he could neitlier hold it nor let it go; and, for 
certain, it bit him at last. 
Roger North, Lord Guilford, II. 2. (Davies.) 
To have a wolf in the stomach, to eat ravenously. 
Halliwell.— To keep the wolf from the door, to keep 
out hunger or want.— To see a wolf, to lose one's voice: 
in allusion to the belief of the ancients (see Virgil, Eel. ix.) 
that if a man saw a wolf before the wolf saw him he lost 
his voice, at least for a time. 
"What! are you mute "^" I said — a waggish guest, 
" Perhaps she 's seen a wolf," rejoin'd in jest. 
Fau'kes, tr. of Idylliuins of Theocritus, xiv. 
"Our young companion has seen a wolf," said Lady 
Hameline, alluding to an ancient superstition, "and has 
lost Ilia tongue in consequence." 
Scott, Quentin Durward, xviil. 
White wolf, a whitish variety of the common wolf of 
North America. — Zebra wolf. See zebra-wolf. (See also 
prairie-wolf, tiinber-wolf.) 
wolf (wulf), V. [< xcolf, «.] I. intrans. To hunt 
for wolves. 
The stock in trade of a party engaged in wolfing con- 
sists in Hour, bacon, and strychnine, the first two articles 
namedfortheirown consumption, tlie last for the wolves. 
Sportsman's Gazetteer, p. 13. 
II. trans. To devotir ravenously: as, to wolf 
down food. [Slang.] 
wolfberry (wiiU"ber^''i), n. ; j)!. wolfberrics (-iz). 
A shrub, Symphoricarpos oceidentalis, of north- 
em North America, in the United States rang- 
ing from Michigan and Illinois to the Rocky 
Mountains. It is sometimes cultivated for ornament, 
mainly on account of its wliite berries, which are borne in 
axillaiy and terminal spikes. 
wolf-dog (wulf 'dog), //. 1. A large stout dog 
of no particular variety, kept to guard sheep, 
cattle, etc. , and destroy wolves. — 2. A dog bred, 
or supposed to be bred, between a dog and a 
wolf. Such hybrids are of constant occurrence among 
the dogs kept by North American Indians ; and instances 
of the reversion of the dog to the feral state in western 
North America aie recorded. 
wolf-eel (wulf el), u. The wolf-tish. 
Wolfenbiittel fragments. See fragment. 
wolfer (wul'ter), n. [< wy)?/+ -erl.] One who 
hunts wolves; a prof<'Ssional wolf-killer. 
The wild throng of buffalo-hunters, wolfers, teamsters, 
. . . filled the streets. The Century, XXXV. 416. 
Wolfe's operation for ectropium. See ojicra- 
tiou. 
■Wolffia(wolf'i-a),?/. [NL.(Horkel,18:iO), named 
after N. M. von' Jrolff{\724-S4), a Gorman phy- 
sician.] A genus of monocotyledonous plants, 
of the order Lrmnace^e, distinguished from Lem~ 
7ta, the other genus, by one-celled anthers and 
by the absence of roots. The 12 species are chiefly 
tropical, occurring in Europe, India, Africa, and America, 
and extending north into the United States ; tliey are com- 
monly globose, sometimes conical or flatfish, with a pro- 
liferous base, and produce minute flowers from chinks in 
the surface, each flower consisting of a single stamen or 
ovary without any spafhe or other envelop. They are 
known, like Lemna, as dvckmcat, and are remarkable for 
tlieir almost microscopic size, being esteemed the smallest 
of flowering plants. 
Wolffian^ (wurfi-an). (t. Same as Wolfian^. 
WoMan- (wurfi-an), a. [< K. F. /ri>// (see 
def.) + -iau.'] Of or pertaining to K. F, Wolff 
(171(3-04), a German anatomist and physiolo- 
gist; in anat., ])hysiol., and ^(>/>/., noting certain 
structures of vertebrated animals.^- Wolffian 
bodies, the primordial kidneys or renal organs in all ver- 
tebrates, excepting probaidy the lancelets; tJie so-called 
false kidneys, in all the higher vertebrates (Mammalia 
and Satiropsida) preceiling and performing the functions 
of true kidneys until replaced l^y the latter, but among 
Ichthyapnila, as fishes, persisting and constituting the 
permJinent renal organs.— Wolffian dUCtS. See ductns 
Woljfii, under duct'ts. 
wolf-fish (wulf tish), u. A tclcostcan acan- 
thoplcrygious fish, Annrrhichas lupus: so called 
from its ferocious aspect and habits, it isfound 
around tlie coasts of (Jreiit Britain, wliere it attains a 
lengtli of or 7 feet, but in southern seas it is said to 
reach a much greater size. 1'he mouth is armed with 
strong sharp teeth, the inner series forming blunt grind- 
