Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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adj
Of or concerning businesses operating outside standard or legitimate practice, especially
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: derogatory, not-comparable, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Of or concerning businesses operating outside standard or legitimate practice, especially:
Of or concerning irresponsible banks or banking, (particularly) small, independent operations.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated, derogatory, not-comparable, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Of or concerning businesses operating outside standard or legitimate practice, especially:
Of or concerning oil exploration in new areas, (particularly) small, independent operations.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: derogatory, not-comparable, usually
Qualifier: oil industry
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Of or concerning businesses operating outside standard or legitimate practice, especially:
Of or concerning actions undertaken by workers without approval or in defiance of the formal leadership of their trade unions.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: derogatory, not-comparable, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Of or concerning customized or hand-made cartridges.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable
Topics: engineering, firearms, government, military, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, politics, tools, war, weaponry
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Unauthorized by the proper authorities.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A cat that lives in the wilderness, specifically:
Felis silvestris, a common small Old World wild cat somewhat larger than a house cat.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A cat that lives in the wilderness, specifically:
A bobcat (Lynx rufus) or other similar New World species of lynx.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A cat that lives in the wilderness, specifically:
Any feral cat.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A cat that lives in the wilderness, specifically:
Alternative spelling of wild cat, any undomesticated felid, as tigers or lions.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, alternative, uncommon
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A person who acts like a wildcat, (usually) a violent and easily-angered person or a sexually vigorous one.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
An offensive formation with an unbalanced line and a snap directly to the running back rather than the quarterback.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: American-football, ball-games, football, games, hobbies, lifestyle, sports
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A wheel that can be adjusted so as to revolve either with or on the shaft of a capstan.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: nautical, transport
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Clipping of wildcat cartridge.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, clipping
Topics: engineering, firearms, government, military, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, politics, tools, war, weaponry
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Clipping of wildcat strike (“a strike undertaken without authorization from the relevant trade union”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, uncommon
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Clipping of wildcat money (“notes issued by a wildcat bank”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To drill for oil in an area where no oil has been found before.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Qualifier: oil industry
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
(of a mine or oil well) drilled speculatively in an area not known to be productive
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
without official authorization
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: unauthorized, unauthorised
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
outside the bounds of legitimate or ethical business practices
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
any small or medium-sized cat resembling the domestic cat and living in the wild
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: cat, true cat
Narrower terms: sand cat, European wildcat, catamountain, Felis silvestris, cougar, puma, catamount, mountain lion, painter, panther, Felis concolor, ocelot, panther cat, Felis pardalis, jaguarundi, jaguarundi cat, jaguarondi, eyra, Felis yagouaroundi, kaffir cat, caffer cat, Felis ocreata, jungle cat, Felis chaus, serval, Felis serval, leopard cat, Felis bengalensis, tiger cat, Felis tigrina, margay, margay cat, Felis wiedi, manul, Pallas's cat, Felis manul, lynx
noun
an exploratory oil well drilled in land not known to be an oil field
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: wildcat well
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: oil well, oiler
noun
a cruelly rapacious person
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: beast, wolf, savage, brute
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: attacker, aggressor, assailant, assaulter
History
From Middle English wyld cat, wylde cat (in the plural as wild cattes, wylde catis, wyle cattes), equivalent to wild + cat. Cognate with Middle Low German wiltkatte, German Wildkatze, Swedish vildkatt. Its adjectival senses were originally American and derived from the "wildcat banks" of Michigan, following its elevation to statehood in 1837. Two laws—one easing the requirements for establishing a new bank and another occasioned by the Panic of 1837 that removed the need for payment in specie—led to the creation and collapse of around 50 banks within two years. The term is apocryphally derived from a wildcat supposedly featured on the currency printed by one of these banks, but more probably derived from the remote locations "where the wildcats roamed" chosen by these banks to avoid oversight and minimize redemption of notes.
Across languages
59 source translations are retained for this English entry.
