wildcat
adjective
1. outside the bounds of legitimate or ethical business practices
- wildcat currency issued by irresponsible banks
- wildcat stock speculation
- a wildcat airline
Similar word(s): unsound
2. without official authorization
- wildcat work stoppage
Similar word(s): unofficial, unauthorised, unauthorized
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
Similar word(s): explorative, exploratory
noun
1. an exploratory oil well drilled in land not known to be an oil field
Definition categories: man–made, oiler
2. a cruelly rapacious person
Similar word(s): beast, brute, savage, wolf
Definition categories: person, aggressor, assailant, assaulter, attacker
3. any small or medium-sized cat resembling the domestic cat and living in the wild
verb
1. 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.