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.
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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
[also: wildcatting, wildcatted]