wildcat
English
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/Felis_silvestris_Vadmacska.jpg/250px-Felis_silvestris_Vadmacska.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/American_wildcat_-_Audubon.jpeg/250px-American_wildcat_-_Audubon.jpeg)
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English wyld cat, wylde cat (in the plural as wild cattes, wylde catis, wyle cattes), equivalent to wild + cat.
Its adjectival senses were originally American and derived from the "wildcat banks" of Michigan, following its elevation to statehood in 1837. Two laws—one easing the requirements for establishing a new bank and another occasioned by the Panic of 1837 that removed the need for payment in specie—led to the creation and collapse of around 50 banks within two years.[1][2] The term is apocryphally derived from a wildcat supposedly featured on the currency printed by one of these banks,[3] but more probably derived from the remote locations "where the wildcats roamed" chosen by these banks to avoid oversight and minimize redemption of notes.[4]
Pronunciation
Noun
- A cat that lives in the wilderness, specifically
- (UK) Felis silvestris, a common small Old World wild cat somewhat larger than a house cat.
- (US) A bobcat (Lynx rufus) or other similar New World species of lynx.
- Any feral cat.
- (uncommon) Alternative spelling of wild cat, any undomesticated felid, as tigers or lions.
- 2003 April 24, CNN
- Upon checking it out, we found a total of 13 newborn wildcats: nine newborn tigers and two newborn leopards.
- 2003 April 24, CNN
- (figurative) A person who acts like a wildcat, (usually) a violent and easily-angered person or a sexually vigorous one.
- 2002 September 26, The Young and the Restless
- Anyone who's man enough to have landed a wildcat like you had to be quite a guy.
- 2002 September 26, The Young and the Restless
- (American football) An offensive formation with an unbalanced line and a snap directly to the running back rather than the quarterback.
- (nautical) A wheel that can be adjusted so as to revolve either with or on the shaft of a capstan.
- (firearms) Clipping of wildcat cartridge.
- (uncommon) Clipping of wildcat strike, a strike undertaken without authorization from the relevant trade union.
- (obsolete) Clipping of wildcat money, notes issued by a wildcat bank.
Synonyms
- (Eurasian wildcats): desert cat
- (American wildcats): See bobcat
- (wild house cats): See feral cat
Hypernyms
Hyponyms
- (Eurasian wildcats, proper subspecies): European wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris), African wildcat (F. s. lybica), Asiatic wildcat (Lua error in Module:parameters at line 780: Parameter "ver" is not used by this template.), Southern African wildcat (Lua error in Module:parameters at line 780: Parameter "ver" is not used by this template.), Chinese mountain cat (Lua error in Module:parameters at line 780: Parameter "ver" is not used by this template.)
- (Eurasian wildcats, informal types): Abyssinian wildcat, Arabian wildcat, Balearic wildcat, bay wildcats, bush wildcats, Caucasian wildcat, Corsica wildcat, Cretan wildcat, East African wildcat, forest wildcats, Hausa wildcat, Iraqi wildcat, Kalahari wildcat, Mid-belt wildcat, Mongolian wildcat, Rhodesian wildcat, Scottish wildcat, steppe wildcats, Syrian wildcat, Tristram's wildcat, Turkestan wildcat, Ugandan wildcat
Derived terms
- Abyssinian wildcat
- African wildcat
- Arabian wildcat
- Asian steppe wildcat
- Asiatic wildcat
- Balearic wildcat
- bay wildcat
- bush wildcat
- Caucasian wildcat
- Corsica wildcat
- Cretan wildcat
- East African wildcat
- European wildcat
- forest wildcat
- Hausa wildcat
- Iraqi wildcat
- Kalahari wildcat
- Martelli's wildcat
- Mid-belt wildcat
- Mongolian wildcat
- Near Eastern wildcat
- Rhodesian wildcat
- Scottish wildcat
- Southern African wildcat
- Syrian wildcat
- Tristram's wildcat
- Turkestan wildcat
- Ugandan wildcat
Translations
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- Albanian: (please verify) macja e egër
- Basque: (please verify) basakatu
- Belarusian: (please verify) кошка лясная (kóška ljasnaja)
- Breton: (please verify) kazh gouez
- Bulgarian: (please verify) дива котка (diva kotka)
- Catalan: (please verify) gat salvatge
- Danish: (please verify) vildkat (da)
- Dutch: (please verify) wilde kat f, (please verify) wilde staking
- Esperanto: (please verify) sovaĝa kato
- Estonian: (please verify) metskass
- Faroese: (please verify) villkøttur
- French: (please verify) chat sauvage (fr) m
- Friulian: (please verify) gjat salvadi
- Galician: (please verify) gato bravo (gl), (please verify) gato montés (gl)
- Hopi: (please verify) toho
- Hungarian: (please verify) vadmacska (hu)
- Icelandic: (please verify) villiköttur (is), (please verify) skógarköttur
- Indonesian: (please verify) kucing liar
- Italian: (please verify) gatto selvatico m
- Korean: (please verify) 살쾡이 (ko)
- Ladin: (please verify) giat salvare
- Latvian: (please verify) karstgalvis?
- Lithuanian: (please verify) miškinė katė
- (deprecated template usage)
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- Macedonian: (please verify) дива мачка (diva mačka)
- Maltese: (please verify) qattus salvaġġ
- Manx: (please verify) kayt ny keylley m, (please verify) kayt oaldey m
- Maricopa: (please verify) mipukwimisish
- Norwegian: (please verify) villkatt, (please verify) skogkatt
- O'odham: (please verify) mawith
- Occitan: (please verify) cat salvatge
- Romani: (please verify) divlio-murtano m, (please verify) divlio-mutsa f
- Romanian: (please verify) pisică sălbatică (ro)
- Romansch: (please verify) giat selvadi
- Sardinian: (please verify) gattu areste, (please verify) gattu aresti, (please verify) battu areste
- Scottish Gaelic: (please verify) cat fiadhaich
- Serbo-Croatian: (please verify) дивља мачка, (please verify) divlja mačka
- Slovak: (please verify) mačka divá
- Slovene: (please verify) divja mačka (sl)
- Spanish: (please verify) gato montés (es) m, (please verify) gato silvestre m
- Swedish: (please verify) vildkatt (sv) c
- Turkish: (please verify) yaban kedisi (tr)
- Ukrainian: (please verify) кіт лісовий (kit lisovyj)
- Volapük: (male or female) (please verify) natädakat, (male) (please verify) natädahikat, (female) (please verify) natädajikat
- West Frisian: (please verify) wylde kat
- Wolof: (please verify) siiru si (wo)
Adjective
wildcat (not comparable)
- (usually derogatory) Of or concerning businesses operating outside standard or legitimate practice, especially:
- 1946, Sigurd Jay Simonsen, The Mongrels:
- Then the development of the home country was neglected for some wildcat idea of bringing up the backward people of other lands.
- (derogatory, dated) Of or concerning irresponsible banks or banking, (particularly) small, independent operations.
- Of or concerning oil exploration in new areas, (particularly) small, independent operations.
- Of or concerning actions undertaken by workers without approval or in defiance of the formal leadership of their trade unions.
- (firearms) Of or concerning customized or hand-made cartridges.
- Unauthorized by the proper authorities.
- 2003 June 15, CNN
- Jewish settlers have also been active putting up five new wildcat outposts on hilltops in the West Bank to try to thwart their Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
- 2003 June 15, CNN
Derived terms
- wildcat bank, wildcat banking, wildcat note, wildcat money, wildcat currency
- wildcat strike
Translations
Verb
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- To drill for oil in an area where no oil has been found before.
- You'd have to be very rich or very desperate to go wildcatting that far east.
Derived terms
See also
- Template:projectlink
- (Eurasian wildcat): Martelli's wildcat (Lua error in Module:parameters at line 780: Parameter "ver" is not used by this template.), sand cat, jungle cat, black-footed cat
- (American wildcat): See bobcat and lynx
References
- ^ Wittmann, Matthew. "The Wildcat Bank of Brest" for Pocket Change: The Blog of the American Numismatic Society. 14 May 2015.
- ^ Dunbar, Willis F. & al. Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State, pp. 222 ff.
- ^ Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. "Wild-cat". G. & C. Merriam Co., 1913.
- ^ Dwyer, Gerald P. Jr. "Wildcat Banking, Banking Panics, and Free Banking in the United States" for Economic Review. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, 1996.
Anagrams
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English compound terms
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- British English
- American English
- English terms with uncommon senses
- en:Football (American)
- en:Nautical
- en:Firearms
- English clippings
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- English derogatory terms
- English terms with quotations
- English dated terms
- en:Felids
- en:People