WILDCAT • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • 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"

See images of 'Wildcat'

Etymology of 'Wildcat'

Related searches:

European wildcat

WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Wildcat" Quotes from Famous Books

... say a cat's a plumb fool," declared Cap'n Amazon. "They'll desert ship as soon as wink. Treacherous critters, the hull tribe. Why, when I was up country in Cuba once, I stopped at a man's hacienda and he had a tame wildcat—had had it from a kitten. Brought it up on a ...

— Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper • James A. Cooper

... came, he crept through the bushes to the little stream in the ravine and drank deep again. His glance caught a pair of red eyes gleaming through the dusk and he saw a wildcat treading lightly. But the cat did not snarl or arch its back. Instead it moved away without any sign of hostility and climbed a big oak, in the brown foliage of which it was lost to Henry's sight. In his mind the thought grew ...

— The Eyes of the Woods - A story of the Ancient Wilderness • Joseph A. Altsheler

... words of his brief speech before he was hit twice in the face, good smashing blows that sent him staggering. The blows were followed by a savage rush. Roaring Dick was on his man with the quickness and ferocity of a wildcat. He hit, kicked, wrestled, even bit. Bob was whirled back by the very impetuosity of the attack. Before he could collect his wits he was badly punished and dazed. He tripped and Roaring Dick, with a bellow of satisfaction, began to kick at ...

— The Rules of the Game • Stewart Edward White

... scheme that'll knock all these wildcat ones just to flinders, see if it don't," remarked Tom Betts, waving his hands to ...

— The Banner Boy Scouts Afloat • George A. Warren

... these markings I recognized 'em and remembered something, and I says right off that he's got some cat there; and he says how do I know? And I tell him that there kitten has got at least a quarter wildcat in it. Its grandmother, or mebbe its great-grandmother, was took up to the Tuttle Ranch when there wasn't another cat within forty miles, and it got to running round nights; and quite a long time after that they ...

— Somewhere in Red Gap • Harry Leon Wilson

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