WordWeb Online

1. Any small or medium-sized cat resembling the domestic cat and living in the wild
    
2. An exploratory oil well drilled in land not known to be an oil field
   - wildcat well
    
3. [informal] A cruelly rapacious person
   - beast, wolf, savage, brute

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
   "wildcat work stoppage";
   - unauthorized, unauthorised [Brit]
    
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"

1. Prospect for oil in an area where no oil has been found before

Derived forms: wildcatting, wildcatted, wildcats

See also: explorative, exploratory, unofficial, unsound

Type of: aggressor, assailant, assailer, assaulter, attacker, cat, oil well, oiler, true cat

Part of: Felis, genus Felis

Encyclopedia: Wildcat, Clay County, Kentucky