wolverine

See also: Wolverine

English
A wolverine.

Alternative forms

Etymology

1619; alteration of earlier wolvering (1574), diminutive of wolver (“ravenous or savage animal; person who behaves like a wolf”) (1593),[1] ultimately from wolf.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈwʊlvəˌɹiːn/, /ˈwɒlvəˌɹiːn/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • (US, also) IPA(key): /ˌwʊlvəˈɹiːn/
  • Audio (US)(file)

Noun

wolverine (plural wolverines)

  1. A solitary, fierce mammal of the Mustelidae family, Gulo gulows.
    • 1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter IV, in The Understanding Heart:
      “Wish I'd been more polite to that girl,” the sheriff remarked regretfully. “ I ain't had a bite to eat since four o'clock this morning, and I'm hungry as a wolverine. … I know she'd have give me another drink of that old moonshine she has.”

Synonyms

Translations

References
  1. Robert K. Barnhart, ed., Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Edinburgh: Chambers, 2008), 1242.

See also
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