WILDCAT (wildcatted, wildcatting)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: wildcatted    , wildcatting   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does wildcat mean? 

• WILDCAT (noun)
  The noun WILDCAT has 3 senses:

1. an exploratory oil well drilled in land not known to be an oil field

2. a cruelly rapacious person

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

  Familiarity information: WILDCAT used as a noun is uncommon.

• WILDCAT (adjective)
  The adjective WILDCAT has 3 senses:

1. outside the bounds of legitimate or ethical business practices

2. without official authorization

3. (of a mine or oil well) drilled speculatively in an area not known to be productive

  Familiarity information: WILDCAT used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WILDCAT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An exploratory oil well drilled in land not known to be an oil field

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

wildcat; wildcat well

Hypernyms ("wildcat" is a kind of...):

oil well; oiler (a well that yields or has yielded oil)

Derivation:

wildcat ((of a mine or oil well) drilled speculatively in an area not known to be productive)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A cruelly rapacious person

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

beast; brute; savage; wildcat; wolf

Hypernyms ("wildcat" is a kind of...):

aggressor; assailant; assaulter; attacker (someone who attacks)

Sense 3

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("wildcat" is a kind of...):

cat; true cat (feline mammal usually having thick soft fur and no ability to roar: domestic cats; wildcats)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wildcat"):

sand cat (a desert wildcat)

catamountain; European wildcat; Felis silvestris (bushy-tailed wildcat of Europe that resembles the domestic cat and is regarded as the ancestor of the domestic cat)

catamount; cougar; Felis concolor; mountain lion; painter; panther; puma (large American feline resembling a lion)

Felis pardalis; ocelot; panther cat (nocturnal wildcat of Central America and South America having a dark-spotted buff-brown coat)

eyra; Felis yagouaroundi; jaguarondi; jaguarundi; jaguarundi cat (long-bodied long-tailed tropical American wildcat)

caffer cat; Felis ocreata; kaffir cat (widely distributed wildcat of Africa and Asia Minor)

Felis chaus; jungle cat (small Asiatic wildcat)

Felis serval; serval (slender long-legged African wildcat having large untufted ears and tawny black-spotted coat)

Felis bengalensis; leopard cat (small spotted wildcat of southern Asia and Malaysia)

Felis tigrina; tiger cat (medium-sized wildcat of Central America and South America having a dark-striped coat)

Felis wiedi; margay; margay cat (small spotted wildcat found from Texas to Brazil)

Felis manul; manul; Pallas's cat (small wildcat of the mountains of Siberia and Tibet and Mongolia)

catamount; lynx (short-tailed wildcats with usually tufted ears; valued for their fur)

Holonyms ("wildcat" is a member of...):

Felis; genus Felis (type genus of the Felidae: true cats and most wildcats)

• WILDCAT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Outside the bounds of legitimate or ethical business practices

Context example:

wildcat life insurance schemes

Similar:

unsound (not sound financially)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Without official authorization

Synonyms:

unauthorised; unauthorized; wildcat

Context example:

wildcat work stoppage

Similar:

unofficial (not having official authority or sanction)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(of a mine or oil well) drilled speculatively in an area not known to be productive

Context example:

wildcat wells

Similar:

explorative; exploratory (serving in or intended for exploration or discovery)

Derivation:

wildcat (an exploratory oil well drilled in land not known to be an oil field)

 Context examples 

Time and again he fought it out with Leach who fought back always, like a wildcat, tooth and nail and fist, until stretched, exhausted or unconscious, on the deck.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)