Word.ws English Dictionary

kept the wolf from the door

kept the wolf from the door is the simple past and past participle 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 kept the wolf from the door

What is kept the wolf from the door the simple past and past participle of?
Kept the wolf from the door is the simple past and past participle of keep the wolf from the door.

Words near kept the wolf from the door in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kept 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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