wolf of Wall Street

English

Noun

wolf of Wall Street (plural wolves of Wall Street)

1. A wealthy, high-level financier.
   • [1920, Jack London, chapter XXVIII, in Hearts of Three‎^[1], page 351:

     Not for nothing had Regan been named by his associates the Wolf of Wall Street. While usually no more than a conservative, large-scale player, every so often, like a periodical drinker, he had to go on a rampage of wild enduring stock-gambling. At least five times in his long career he had knocked the bottom out of the market or lifted the roof off, and each time to the tune of a personal gain of millions.]

   • 1947, Gordon McDonell, directed by Irving Pichel, They Won't Believe Me (motion picture), spoken by Larry Ballentine and Speed Bowman (Robert Young and Paul Maxey):

     Larry [Ballentine]'s Voice: Greta's Aunt Martha, who hated me — Mrs. Bowman, who bored me — and her husband, "Speed" Bowman, Yale, '24, who'd parlayed a touchdown against Harvard into a million-dollar brokerage business...
     Bowman: If it ain't the Wolf of Wall Street: Come in, Wolf, and drink at the spring.

   • [1965 June 21, Harvey H. Segal, “Bernard Baruch, Counselor to United States”, in Washington Post:

     In the spring of 1897, Baruch made his first "killing," laying the foundation for a subsequent fortune and a reputation as "The Wolf of Wall Street'." Staking his slender resources on the chance that the Senate would not lower the sugar tariff, Mr. Baruch bought 100 shares of American Sugar Refining on thin margin. His supposition about the tariff was correct and the stock's price began to rise.]

2. (derogatory) A wealthy, high-level financier who preys on the general public.
   • 1934 July 16, “Oklahoma's Choice”, in Time Magazine‎^[2], volume XXIV, number 3, page 14:

     He [Ernest Whitworth Marland] always felt that he had been euchred out of control of his Marland Oil Co. by unscrupulous financiers and when in 1932 he was elected to Congress, he kept up a steady racket against "the wolves of Wall Street."

   • 1936 January 18, Joseph P. Kennedy, “Shielding the Sheep”, in Saturday Evening Post, volume 208, number 29:

     I recall one old-timer who had been, in his way, one of the minor wolves of Wall Street. He said that SEC [U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission] espionage gave him a temptation he could barely resist — to go honest.

   • 2015, 44:18 from the start, response to presentation by "The Minimalists", Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Millburn, in Matt D'Avella, director, Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things (motion picture), Clyde Dinkins (actor):

     You're dedicated, you're creative, you're innovative. You have a sincere desire for mankind— the very people who the wolves of Wall Street fear. And to me, you're removing yourself from the war.