Word.ws English Dictionary

keeping the wolf from the door

keeping the wolf from the door is the present participle and gerund of keep the wolf from the door.

Meaning of keep the wolf from the door

Verb

keep the wolf from the door (third-person singular simple present keeps the wolf from the door, present participle keeping the wolf from the door, simple past and past participle kept the wolf from the door)

  1. (idiomatic) To ward off poverty or hunger.
    • They didn't earn much, but it was enough to keep the wolf from the door.
  2. (euphemistic, humorous, idiomatic) To delay sexual ejaculation.
    • Do you mind if I talk? It helps me keep the wolf from the door, so to speak. Jill, what do you think of the pedestrianization of Norwich city centre?1997, Peter Baynham, Steve Coogan, Armando Iannucci, “Alan Attraction”, in I'm Alan Partridge, spoken by Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan)

Questions about keeping the wolf from the door

What is keeping the wolf from the door the present participle and gerund of?
Keeping the wolf from the door is the present participle and gerund of keep the wolf from the door.

Words near keeping the wolf from the door in the dictionary

  1. keeping the pace
  2. keeping the peace
  3. keeping the pot boiling
  4. keeping the powder dry
  5. keeping the show on the road
  6. keeping the wolf from the door
  7. keeping time
  8. keeping to
  9. keeping to one's knitting
  10. keeping to oneself
  11. keeping together

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keeping the wolf from the door (page history and authors); keep the wolf from the door (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “keeping the wolf from the door.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/keeping_the_wolf_from_the_door. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.