Meaning & use
wolf down
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Meaning
verbphrasal verbinformal
To eat food very quickly and greedily, usually without chewing it much.
Grammar: Takes an object, which can come in the middle: wolf down a sandwich or wolf it down.
Patterns
- wolf something down
- wolf down something
He wolfed down his breakfast and ran for the bus.
The kids wolfed the pizza down before anyone could take a slice.
After the hike, we wolfed down everything on the table.
Word forms
| third person singular | wolfs down |
|---|---|
| past tense | wolfed down |
| past participle | wolfed down |
| -ing form | wolfing down |
Common combinations
- wolf down breakfast
- I wolfed down breakfast and rushed to work.
- wolf down a sandwich
- She wolfed down a sandwich between meetings.
- wolf down your food
- Don't wolf down your food, or you'll get hiccups.
- wolf it down
- They were so hungry they wolfed it down in minutes.
- wolf down a meal
- He wolfed down a meal and fell asleep on the couch.
Synonyms and how they differ
- gobble up
- Gobble up is very close but slightly more playful and can also describe consuming resources.
- devour
- Devour is stronger and more dramatic, and can suggest enjoying something intensely, as in devour a book.
- scarf down
- Scarf down is the American informal equivalent and sounds more casual than wolf down.
- bolt
- Bolt means swallowing in a hurry, while wolf down also adds the idea of greed.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: wolf down or woof down? wolf down or swallow?
wolf down vs woof down
Woof is the sound a dog makes, so woof down is a misspelling and not a real phrase.
wolf down vs swallow
Swallow simply means to pass food down your throat. Wolf down also says you ate fast and greedily.
Practice
Late for class, Maya ___ her toast and ran out of the house.
Choose one answer.
Wolfed down means ate very fast, which suits someone in a hurry. Savored and nibbled at describe slow eating that would not match being late.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “wolf down”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.