ˈwolf-dog
[Cf. G. wolfshund.]
1. Any of several large varieties of dog formerly kept for hunting wolves, esp. the Irish greyhound or wolf-hound.
| 1652 Order Ir. Privy Council 27 Apr., Such great dogges as are commonly called Wolfe dogges,..which are useful for destroying of wolves. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 16 June 1670, The bulls did exceeding well, but the Irish wolfe-dog exceeded, which was a tall greyhound. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 180 Wolf-dogs (once so useful and celebrated) were perhaps peculiar to Ireland, but that species is now nearly extinct. 1840 C. H. Smith Dogs II. 139 The Great Wolf-dog is not common in central Europe; and appears at present almost confined to Spain. 1845 Youatt Dog 66 The Italian or Pomeranian wolf-dog. 1884 Tennyson Becket iii. ii, When that horn sounds, a score of wolf-dogs are let loose. |
2. A cross of a domestic dog and a wolf.
| 1736 Ainsworth, Lycisca, a dog ingendered of a wolf and a bitch, or a shepherd's dog, a wolf dog. 1755 Johnson. 1896 M. McNaughton Overland to Cariboo 47 A large number of wolf-dogs were prowling about. 1910 Encycl. Brit. VIII. 377/1 The black wolfdog of Florida resembles the black wolf of the same region. 1924 R. Arundel Police Dogs 6 The German Sheep Dog (known in this country as the Alsatian Wolf Dog). 1953 B. J. Banfill Labrador Nurse 19 The mossy grass knolls were dotted with tethered wolf dogs. |