To eat food very quickly and greedily, usually because you are very hungry or in a hurry.
To eat food really fast, like a starving wolf.
One main meaning — here's how to use it.
To eat food very fast and greedily, often without pausing to chew properly or enjoy it.
"She wolfed down her breakfast and ran out the door to catch the bus."
"He wolfed down the food without tasting it."
— Widely used phrasing in contemporary fiction; exemplified in numerous news articles (e.g. The Guardian food writing, 2010s).
To eat like a wolf, sending food 'down' the throat — 'down' indicates ingestion.
To eat food really fast, like a starving wolf.
Very commonly used in informal speech and writing. The image comes from the way wolves eat prey rapidly. Often signals that the person was very hungry or short on time. Not considered rude to say, though it describes rude eating behaviour.
Natural word combinations native speakers use most often.
The five tense forms you'll use most often.
Listen to native speakers using "wolf down" in real YouTube videos — click a clip to watch it on Looplines.
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