wolverine

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a powerful, thickset northern mustelid, Gulo gulo, known for strength, endurance, and scavenging over a large range

   A wolverine crossed the snowy clearing and disappeared into the conifers.

2. 2
   noun

   a native or resident of Michigan, or a person associated with the University of Michigan

   The lifelong Wolverine returned to Ann Arbor for the reunion.

An early seventeenth-century alteration of wolvering, itself related to wolver, a name for a ravenous animal associated with the wolf. The Michigan nickname arose in the nineteenth century and later became closely tied to the University of Michigan.

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