WILDCAT • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Wildcat

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/wˈaɪldkˌæt/ Listen

Wildcat

noun

1.

An exploratory oil well drilled in land not known to be an oil field. Synonym: wildcat well.

2.

A cruelly rapacious person. Synonyms: beast, brute, savage, wolf.

3.

Any small or medium-sized cat resembling the domestic cat and living in the wild.

adjective

1.

Outside the bounds of legitimate or ethical business practices. "Wildcat stock speculation" , "A wildcat airline" , "Wildcat life insurance schemes"

2.

Without official authorization. Synonyms: unauthorised, unauthorized. "Wildcat work stoppage"

3.

(of a mine or oil well) drilled speculatively in an area not known to be productive. "A wildcat mine" , "Wildcat drilling" , "Wildcat wells"

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Etymology of 'Wildcat'

Related searches:

European wildcat

WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Wildcat" Quotes from Famous Books

... A great table in the middle was comfortably littered with books and magazines. All the available wall space, from floor to ceiling, was occupied by filled bookshelves. It seemed to Daylight that he had never seen so many books assembled in one place. Skins of wildcat, 'coon, and deer lay ...

— Burning Daylight • Jack London

... talk wore off in a fortnight. Yet he was popular with teachers as well as pupils. His head was crowned with a mass of sandy hair and his impertinent face plastered with freckles. The boy was quick and full of grace as a wildcat and so well built and lithe that he was a terror on ...

— Dick in the Everglades • A. W. Dimock

... Tyope do? He belongs to his hanutsh, his daughter to hers; and the people of Tyame have no faith in those of Shyuamo, for they mistrust them. But warn the mot[a]tza; tell him to be prudent; for Tyope is cunning,—as cunning as shutzuna and as treacherous as the wildcat, and my grandson is young. But let them go together, for I am glad to see Tyame and Tanyi become ...

— The Delight Makers • Adolf Bandelier

... ever know me to show fear, de Lussan?" cried the captain bending forward and staring at the Frenchman, his eyes glittering in the darkness like those of a wildcat. ...

— Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer - A Romance of the Spanish Main • Cyrus Townsend Brady

... again. Only eight yards to go and four downs to do it in. Clint scented victory and his nerves grew tense as he waited. Then he was pushing and wrenching and once more the hole was opened wide and once more Freer, playing like a wildcat, smashed past him. Clint followed through, met a Claflin back and sent him staggering aside. Freer, tackled but still fighting, dragged himself on and on. And ...

— Left Tackle Thayer • Ralph Henry Barbour

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