werewolf

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: were=wolf

CIDE DICTIONARY

werewolf, n. [AS. werwulf; wer a man + wulf a wolf; cf. G. wärwolf, währwolf, wehrwolf, a werewolf, MHG. werwolf. Were a man, and Wolf, and cf. Virile, World.].

 A person transformed into a wolf in form and appetite, either temporarily or permanently, whether by supernatural influences, by witchcraft, or voluntarily; a lycanthrope. Belief in werewolves, formerly general, is not now extinct.  [1913 Webster]
"The werwolf went about his prey."  [1913 Webster]
"The brutes that wear our form and face,
The werewolves of the human race."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

werewolf, n. (also werwolf) (pl. -wolves) a mythical being who at times changes from a person to a wolf.

Etymology

OE werewulf: first element perh. f. OE wer man = L vir

DEVIL DICTIONARY

werewolf

n. A wolf that was once, or is sometimes, a man. All werewolves are of evil disposition, having assumed a bestial form to gratify a beastial appetite, but some, transformed by sorcery, are as humane and is consistent with an acquired taste for human flesh.
Some Bavarian peasants having caught a wolf one evening, tied it to a post by the tail and went to bed. The next morning nothing was there! Greatly perplexed, they consulted the local priest, who told them that their captive was undoubtedly a werewolf and had resumed its human for during the night. "The next time that you take a wolf," the good man said, "see that you chain it by the leg, and in the morning you will find a Lutheran."

THESAURUS

werewolf

Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf-man, ape-man, bogey, bogeyman, bugaboo, bugbear, demon, devil, devil incarnate, fee-faw-fum, fiend, fiend from hell, frightener, ghost, ghoul, harpy, hellhound, hellkite, hobgoblin, holy terror, horror, incubus, jaguar-man, lamia, monster, nightmare, ogre, ogress, phantom, revenant, scarebabe, scarecrow, scarer, specter, succubus, terror, vampire, werecat, werecrocodile, werefox, werehyena, werejaguar, werelion, weretiger