Hypertext Webster Gateway: "wildcat"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Wild-cat \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) Running without control; running along the line
without a train; as, a wild-cat locomotive.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
wildcat
adj 1: 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"
2: without official authorization; "an unauthorized strike";
"wildcat work stoppage" [syn: {unauthorized}, {unauthorised}]
3: (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"
n 1: an exploratory oil well drilled in land not known to be an
oil field [syn: {wildcat well}]
2: a cruelly rapacious person [syn: {beast}, {wolf}, {savage},
{brute}]
3: any small or medium-sized cat resembling the domestic cat
and living in the wild
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