WILDCAT

wildcat

(adjective) (of a mine or oil well) drilled speculatively in an area not known to be productive; “drilling there would be strictly a wildcat operation”; “a wildcat mine”; “wildcat drilling”; “wildcat wells”

unauthorized, unauthorised, wildcat

(adjective) without official authorization; “an unauthorized strike”; “wildcat work stoppage”

wildcat

(adjective) outside the bounds of legitimate or ethical business practices; “wildcat currency issued by irresponsible banks”; “wildcat stock speculation”; “a wildcat airline”; “wildcat life insurance schemes”

wildcat

(noun) any small or medium-sized cat resembling the domestic cat and living in the wild

beast, wolf, savage, brute, wildcat

(noun) a cruelly rapacious person

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

wildcat (plural wildcats)

A cat that lives in the wilderness, specifically

(UK) Felis silvestris, a common small Old World wild cat somewhat larger than a house cat.

(US) A bobcat (Lynx rufus) or other similar New World species of lynx.

Any feral cat.

(uncommon) Alternative spelling of wild cat, any undomesticated felid, as tigers or lions.

(figurative) A person who acts like a wildcat, (usually) a violent and easily-angered person or a sexually vigorous one.

(American football) An offensive formation with an unbalanced line and a snap directly to the running back rather than the quarterback.

(nautical) A wheel that can be adjusted so as to revolve either with or on the shaft of a capstan.

(firearms) Clipping of wildcat cartridge.

(uncommon) Clipping of wildcat strike, a strike undertaken without authorization from the relevant trade union.

(obsolete) Clipping of wildcat money, notes issued by a wildcat bank.

Synonyms

• (Eurasian wildcats): desert cat

• (American wildcats): See bobcat

• (wild house cats): See feral cat

Hypernyms

• (felines): See cat, lynx, and wild cat

Hyponyms

• (Eurasian wildcats, proper subspecies): European wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris), African wildcat (F. s. lybica), Asiatic wildcat (Felis silvestris ornata), Southern African wildcat (Felis silvestris cafra), Chinese mountain cat (Felis silvestris bieti)

• (Eurasian wildcats, informal types): Abyssinian wildcat, Arabian wildcat, Balearic wildcat, bay wildcats, bush wildcats, Caucasian wildcat, Corsica wildcat, Cretan wildcat, East African wildcat, forest wildcats, Hausa wildcat, Iraqi wildcat, Kalahari wildcat, Mid-belt wildcat, Mongolian wildcat, Rhodesian wildcat, Scottish wildcat, steppe wildcats, Syrian wildcat, Tristram's wildcat, Turkestan wildcat, Ugandan wildcat

Adjective

wildcat (not comparable)

(usually pejorative) Of or concerning businesses operating outside standard or legitimate practice, especially

(pejorative, dated) Of or concerning irresponsible banks or banking, (particularly) small, independent operations.

Of or concerning oil exploration in new areas, (particularly) small, independent operations.

Of or concerning actions undertaken by workers without approval or in defiance of the formal leadership of their trade unions.

(firearms) Of or concerning customized or hand-made cartridges.

Unauthorized by the proper authorities.

Verb

wildcat (third-person singular simple present wildcats, present participle wildcatting, simple past and past participle wildcatted)

To drill for oil in an area where no oil has been found before.

Anagrams

• clitwad

Source: Wiktionary

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Wild"-cat`, a.

1. Unsound; worthless; irresponsible; unsafe; -- said to have been originally applied to the notes of an insolvent bank in Michigan upon which there was the figure of a panther.

2. (Railroad)

Definition: Running without control; running along the line without a train; as, a wild-cat locomotive.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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