Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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verb
To ward off poverty or hunger.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: idiomatic
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To delay sexual ejaculation.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: euphemistic, humorous, idiomatic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
The original saying may have been keep the wolf from the gate, which dates from at least 1470. By the 1500s the saying had become keep the wolf from the door, with the current meaning that it bears: see, for example, the 1645 quotation. There is a suggestion that the phrase may have originated from French or German phrases. Compare the French manger comme un loup (“eat like a wolf”), and the German Wolfsmagen (literally “wolf’s stomach”) means “a keen appetite”.
Across languages
11 source translations are retained for this English entry.
