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Thu 22 Jun, 2006 02:13 am
Could you like to tell me the related phrases and idioms about "wolf"? Thanks !
There are many colloquial expressions which use the word "wolf." I'll try to give you some of them. The word wolf can be used as a verb, in which case it means to eat one's food in a crude and hurried manner: "He wolfed down his lunch before leaving again." Another expression is "to cry wolf." There is an old, proverbial story of a boy who cries wolf, when there is actually no wolf present, just to see the excitement and panic it causes in his little town. He does this several times, so that when a wolf actually does appear, no one believes him, and they ignore his warnings, so that he is killed by the wolf. So the expression "to cry wolf" means to warn people who will not believe you because they have found you untrustworthy in the past. The expression "a wolf in sheeps clothing" refers to someone who is not what they seem. It means someone who appears to be harmless (sheep's clothing) but who is actually dangerous or untrustworthy (a wolf). The expression "the wolf is at the door" means extreme poverty, or the failing of resources. So if someone who had not gathered enough wood to burn in order to keep warm in cold, winter weather--when the wood they had gathered was about to run out, it would be said that "the wolf was at the door." If someone had spent their money foolishly, and could no longer meet their expenses, it would be said that the wolf was at the door.