Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a male overtly pursuing women for sex; also attrib.; thus wolfish, wolfy adj.

[1595		Sir W. Knollys in Lady Newdigate-Newdegate Gossip from a Muniment Room (1897) 9: I will no way ffayle to [...] deffend the innocent lamb from the wolvyshe crueltye & fox-like subteltye of the tame bests of thys place].
1721		in H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 421: The Reverend Cotton Mather meanwhile, used the term in its modern lecherous sense in 1721, describing an Anglican clergyman, James McSparran, as a ‘grevious wolf.’.
1838		J.C. Neal Charcoal Sketches (1865) 35: Dabbs was decidedly out of sorts — perhaps beery, as well as wolfy.
1848		Thackeray Vanity Fair 314: ‘Rawdon,’ said Becky [...] ‘I must have a sheep-dog [...] I mean a moral shepherd’s dog [...] A dog to keep the wolves off me.’.
1853		Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 8 Oct. n.p.: He seems to have concluded that there was a grand opening for a wolfish speculation, for he hastened to pursue [...] the fair one.
1874		M. Clarke Term of His Natural Life (1897) 214: ‘Fast’ society, where animals turn into birds, where a wolf becomes a rook, and a lamb a pigeon.
1881		B.L. Quinn Substitution for Marriage 12: To prevent heretics from discovering, if possible, the rottenness prevailing among them, from the lowest in the [clerical] office to the highest old grey-headed wolf in the fold [...] the best, safest, and most expedient plans were thought out and adopted for the enslavement of women, by making them ‘Blessed Creatures,’ or consecrated prostitutes.
1909		J. Washburn Und. Sewer 129: The baneful influence of the wolf who beguiled and dazzled her by wild romances.
1912		Ade Knocking the Neighbors 203: He is a prize Bunk, a two-handed Grafter, a Short-Change Artist and a Broadway Wolf.
1928		C. McKay Home to Harlem 88: ‘Black woman riding her nigger. Great life, boh!’ [...] ‘Ain’t it better than being a wolf?’.
1932		V.F. Nelson Prison Days and Nights 98: Among these were numerous degenerates (or ‘wolves,’ as they are called).
1947		N. Algren Neon Wilderness (1986) 265: Who’d want to leave Olivia De Havilland to all those Washington wolves?
1951		Cusack & James Come in Spinner (1960) 136: It’d be safe enough with the door open and her dressed up like a sore thumb; even an old wolf like Alfalfa would hesitate before he ruined a frock like this.
1958		E. Dundy Dud Avocado (1960) 249: You gonna let him take you home? He’s an awful wolf, you know.
1962		R. Hauser Homosexual Society 101: A young dancer, married to a girl who had been in the same profession and who was now the mother of his two children, told me: ‘It wasn’t my wife who had to keep off the wolves, it was me.’.
1978		R. Caron Go-Boy! 114: Dad was a harmless wolf who loved to whistle at passing girls, but it never went beyond that.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 79: A customer pulled in, a good-looking woman in a convertible. He forgot all about me and strode over to the pumps, his face contorted into a wolf grin.
2002		J. Ridley Conversation with the Mann 83: The wolves were constantly circling, eager to get a little play.
2007		R. Milward Apples (2023) 9: We got eyeballed by the packs of wolves, dumb wankers.

2. (US) an obsessive, one who is very keen.

1913–14

Van Loan ‘Scrap Iron’ in Taking the Count 232: He was always a wolf for the coin.

3. (US Und.) a tramp who rides on passenger trains by virtue of strength rather than cunning.

1916

‘A-No. 1’ Snare of the Road 31: Ramblers are further subdivided into two classes: [...] ‘Wolves’ [are] tramps who depend on brute strength to accomplish their ends.

4. (US gay) a predatory male or female homosexual; esp. in context of prison.

1918		H. Simon ‘Prison Dict.’ in AS VIII:3 (1933) 32/2: WOLF. Boy-seducer.
1928		C. Panzram Journal of Murder in Gaddis & Long (2002) 50: At that place [i.e. a prison] I got to be an experienced wolf. I knew more about sodomy than old boy Oscar Wilde.
1935		J. Fishman Sex in Prison 59: They are of the passive type, known variously as ‘punks,’ ‘girls,’ ‘fags,’ ‘pansies,’ or ‘fairies,’ as distinguished from their inmates who take advantage of their favors, that is the active participants. These are known in prison slang as ‘top men’ or ‘wolves.’.
1940		L.L. Stanley Men at Their Worst 187: One of our greatest problems in prison is that of keeping the ‘fish’ from the ‘wolves,’ or the young prisoners from the influence of the hardened criminals.
1953		T. Runyon In For Life 99: The perennial bachelor [...] gained a certain amount of prestige in certain circles [...] from being known as a wolf, or a jocker, or a Turk.
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 264: A baby-faced, small-framed, good-looking kid who looked about fourteen years old, he was perfect prey for the jailhouse wolves.
1978		R. Caron Go-Boy! 139: In prison a con looking for a sexual outlet with a sweet kid is called wolf. He needn’t be a homosexual nor necessarily is the kid [...] However for one reason or another, a marriage of convenience might take place.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 222: The modern jocker [...] is an aggressive male homosexual or wolf.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 163: He’d been raped and beaten by a few wolves while everyone else was asleep.
2000		Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Wolf: Predator.
2011		G. Hayward Corruption Officer [ebk] cap. 28: Let me see if you’re a lover (been having anal sex) or a fighter (been keeping the wolves off ya!).

5. (US) an older, usu. homosexual, tramp who travels with a young boy.

1923		N. Anderson Hobo 103: The term ‘wolf’ is often used synonymously with jocker.
1930		‘Dean Stiff’ Milk and Honey Route 161: Whenever a man travels around with a lad he is apt to be labeled a ‘jocker’ or a ‘wolf’ and the road kid is called his ‘punk,’ ‘preshun,’ or ‘lamb.’.
1936		K. Mackenzie Living Rough 132: ‘That guy’s a wolf,’ whispered Hank, ‘and that punk that he hangs around with is a mission stiff too.’.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1991		O.D. Brooks Legs 3: I knew he was a wolf and going up the kid’s rear, and wolves are my pet hate.

6. (US) a member of a teenage gang, or ‘wolfpack’.

1989

N.Y. Times 1 May 23: Did the young wolves attack her because she is white and they are black?

7. (US Und.) a criminal who works alone [SE lone wolf].

1933

Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.

8. (W.I. Rasta) one who is not a Rastafarian but wears their hair in dreadlocks.

2004

‘Patois Dict.’ www.dancehallareaz.com 🌐.

9. (drugs) phencyclidine [its non-recreational use as an animal tranquillizer].

1979		H. Feldman et al. Angel Dust 124: The large number of street names it has been accorded over the years: [...] wolf.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 22: Wolf — PCP.

10. (US prison) a 15-year sentence.

1971–2

C. Shafer ‘Catheads [...] and Cho-Cho Sticks’ in Abernethy Bounty of Texas (1990) 217: wolf, n. – a fifteen-year sentence.

11. a lesbian.

1972

B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 71: any gay woman [...] wolf.

12. a professional poker player.

1995

R. Campbell Wizard of La-La Land (1999) 2: Messina, the poker wolf [...] a man who nearly always walked away a winner.