werewolf

Werewolf \Were"wolf`\, n.; pl. Werewolves. [AS. werwulf; wer a man + wulf a wolf; cf. G. w[aum]rwolf, w[aum]hrwolf, wehrwolf, a werewolf, MHG. werwolf. [root]285. See 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]

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."