keep the wolf from the door

English

Etymology

The original saying may have been keep the wolf from the gate, which dates from at least 1470.[1] 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”.[2]

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)

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)

(idiomatic) To ward off poverty or hunger.
They didn't earn much, but it was enough to keep the wolf from the door.
I'll grab a sandwich to keep the wolf from the door until dinner time.
- 1645 May 8 (Gregorian calendar), James Howell, “LX. To Tho. Young, Esq”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], volume I, 3rd edition, London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], published 1655, OCLC 84295516, section VI, page 284:
  Indeed 'tis very fitting that He or She ſhould have wherewith to ſupport both, according to their quality, at leaſt to keep the Wolf from the Door, otherwiſe 'twere a meer madneſs to Marry; […]
(idiomatic, humorous, euphemistic) To delay sexual ejaculation.
- 1997, Peter Baynham, Steve Coogan, and Armando Iannucci, “Alan Attraction”, in I'm Alan Partridge, spoken by Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan):
  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?
- 2002 July 30, “the mekon”, “Wanking”, in uk.media.dvd, Usenet‎, message-ID <ai45tt$110mqu$2@ID-115312.news.dfncis.de>:
  I find it useful to look at a picture of Mo Mowlam at the change hands point, it helps to ‘keep the wolf from the door’ so to speak.
- 2014 December 1, “Carnal Calendar”, in Men's Health‎, South Africa, archived from the original on 8 March 2017:
  If you haven't got the self-control to keep the wolf from the door yourself, ask your partner to help out. She'll enjoy being the one in the driving seat for a change.

Translations

to ward off poverty

French: être à l'abri du besoin
Italian: rimanere a galla, tirare avanti, barcamenarsi (it), cavarsela (it), farcela (it), scamparla, sbarcare il lunario

to ward off hunger

Latin: famem a foribus pellere

References

John Hardyng (January 1543), “The. xcviii. Chapiter. The Lamentacyon of the Maker of this Booke, and His Counsayle to My Lorde of Yorke, for Good Rule in the Realme of Englande”, in The Chronicle of Ihon Hardyng, […], London: In officina Richardi Graftoni, OCLC 702183961; republished as John Hardyng; Richard Grafton, The Chronicle of Iohn Hardyng. […], London: Printed for F[rancis] C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington; [et al.], 1812, OCLC 220598405, stanza XII, page 181: “Endowe hym now with noble sapience, / By whiche he maye the wolf werre frome the gate, / For wisedome is more worth in all defence, / Then any gold or riches congregate; […].”
Notes and Queries: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc., volume 4, issue 84, London: Bell and Daldy, 8 August 1857, OCLC 887525157, page 115.

[1] John Hardyng (January 1543), “The. xcviii. Chapiter. The Lamentacyon of the Maker of this Booke, and His Counsayle to My Lorde of Yorke, for Good Rule in the Realme of Englande”, in The Chronicle of Ihon Hardyng, […], London: In officina Richardi Graftoni, OCLC 702183961; republished as John Hardyng; Richard Grafton, The Chronicle of Iohn Hardyng. […], London: Printed for F[rancis] C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington; [et al.], 1812, OCLC 220598405, stanza XII, page 181: “Endowe hym now with noble sapience, / By whiche he maye the wolf werre frome the gate, / For wisedome is more worth in all defence, / Then any gold or riches congregate; […].”

[2] Notes and Queries: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc., volume 4, issue 84, London: Bell and Daldy, 8 August 1857, OCLC 887525157, page 115.