keep the wolf from the door

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]

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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.

   • 1645 April 28, James Howell, “LX. To Tho. Young, Esq”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], volume I, 3rd edition, London: Printed for 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; […]

2. (idiomatic, humorous, euphemistic) To delay sexual ejaculation.
   • 1997, Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge, “Alan Attraction”, in I'm Alan Partridge, written by Peter Baynham, Steve Coogan, and Armando Iannucci:

     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.