| 释义 |
wild cat
(Also with hyphen, or, esp. in early use, as one word.) Forms: see wild a. and cat n.1; also β. (Sc.) 6 wilkatt, 8 wilcat, wil'-cat, 9 wull-cat.
[Cf. MLG. wildkatte, MHG. wilde katze (G. wildkatze), Sw. vildkatt, Da. -kat.]
1. The European wild species of cat, Felis catus (see cat n.1 1 c); also applied to other wild animals of the cat tribe, esp. in U.S. to species of lynx. † Also pl., the skins of these used as fur.
1418E.E. Wills (1882) 37 A gowne of gray russet furred wit Ionetis and wylde Catis. 14..Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 591/26 Laero, -ronis, est quoddam animal pilosum ut cuniculus secundum alios, a wylde cat. c1480Henryson Wolf & Wether viii, Nouther wolf, wyld-cat, nor ȝit tod. 1566Act 8 Eliz. c. 15 §2 For the Heade of everie Fitchewe Polcatte or Wilde Catte, one peny. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. ii. v. 48 He sleepes by day More then the wilde-cat. 1682T. A. Carolina 20 The Tyger, Wolf, and wild Cat. 1805Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) II. ii. 51 We have a curious breed of wild-cats who have eaten all Charlotte's chickens. 1843Macaulay Horatius xlv, Then, like a wild cat mad with wounds, Sprang right at Astur's face. 1884Marcus Clarke Mem. Vol. 127 How many nights..have I listened to the skirr of the wild cats. 1904Daily Chron. 31 Mar. 7/3 A terrible struggle between a man and a monstrous wildcat.
β1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 7 To hunte the hair and the fox,..the Wolfe, or the Wilkatt. c1730Ramsay Fables xix. 44 The tyger, bair, and ev'ry powerfu' fur, Down to the wilcat and the snarling cur. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. x, I never ask what brings the Laird of Dumbiedikes glowering here like a wull-cat..day after day. 1887P. McNeill Blawearie 153 Still haudin' on till its tail wi' the determination of a wull-cat.
2. fig. Applied to a savage, ill-tempered, or spiteful person, esp. a woman: cf. cat n.1 2.
† to run wild-cat (quot. a 1652): to ‘run mad’, become demented: cf. wild a. 12, and the attrib. use in 4 b below.
1573–80Tusser Husb. (1878) 168 Where window is open, cat maketh a fray, Yet wilde cat with two legs is worse by my fay. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. i. ii. 197 But will you woo this Wilde-cat? 1612N. Field Woman is a Weathercock i. ii, Like a Wilde-Cat of Pickt-hatch. a1652Brome Damoiselle i. i, The care of Children's such a startle-braine, That had I more then one, I should run Wild-cat. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 17 Apr. (1815) 14 That wild-cat my sister Tabby. 1894Crockett Raiders xiii, ‘Come back to your post, ye wull cat,’ I shouted.
3. fig.
a. One who forms a rash project, or engages in a risky or unsafe enterprise.
b. An unsound business undertaking, as a ‘wild-cat bank’ (see 4 b); also, a note, or notes collectively, of a ‘wild-cat bank’. (Orig. and chiefly U.S. colloq.)
1812Columbian Centinel 6 June 2/5 Some of the Wild⁓cats of Congress. 1839Mrs. Kirkland New Home xxxi. 204 The celebrated term ‘Wild Cat,’ justified fully by the course of these cunning and stealthy bloodsuckers. 1861‘Mark Twain’ Lett. (1917) I. iii. 54 ‘Wild cat’ isn't worth ten cents. 1883F. M. Crawford Dr. Claudius x, Complacent holders of preferred, and scatter-brained speculators in wild-cat. 1896Nation (N.Y.) 3 Dec. 417/2 Whether this feature of our banking system can be amended without giving the field to wildcats. 1902Westm. Gaz. 7 Aug. 9/1 The market has been crowded with ‘wild cats’.
c. An exploratory oil-well, drilled where there is only a possibility of success. Cf. wild a. 6 d, wild well s.v. wild a. 16.
1877Sci. Amer. 22 Dec. 387/3 A large number of ‘wildcats’, or test wells, have gone down off the eastern edge of the defined line, but with very few exceptions they have proved to be dusters. 1943Jrnl. Sedimentary Petrol. XIII. 111/2 Both deep, off-structure wildcats and field wells are important. 1977Offshore Engineer May 39/1 Esso is drilling in the deepest water off Egypt's Mediterranean coast with a second wildcat in 470m of water 100km off Alexandria.
d. Illicitly distilled whisky. Cf. wild-cat whisky, sense 4 b.
1887A. A. Brown Lumbering on Cumberland vii. 80 Mr. Kearney alighted and tendered us a drink from his bottle of ‘wild cat’. 1945M. Lyon Fresh from Hills iv. 47 You can keep on a-makin' wildcat till hell freezes over.
e. ellipt. for wildcat strike, sense 4 c below.
1959Daily Mail 28 Oct. 1 (heading) War on the wild⁓cats. 1969Guardian 22 Aug. 9/1 The TUC made their ‘solemn and binding declaration’ to the Prime Minister about dealing with wildcats. 1978J. Wainwright Ripple of Murders 43 They'd thought he was bluffing... So there's been wildcats and pickets, and lock-ins.
4. attrib. (usually with hyphen).
a. lit. in sense 1: Of a wild cat.
1624Capt. J. Smith Virginia i. 17 Some..wilde Catte skinnes. 1863W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting ix. 421 Jackal and wild-cat skins.
b. fig. Applied to banks in the western United States which, before the passing of the National Bank Act of 1863, fraudulently issued notes with little or no capital, or to their notes or transactions; hence extended to unsound or risky business enterprises generally; also to illicit businesses or their products (e.g. wild-cat whisky); and more widely to reckless, rash, or extravagant undertakings, statements, etc. (cf. wild a. 13), and (colloq.) with reference to wildcat strikes (see sense 4 c below).
This application is said to have arisen from the fact that the notes of a bank in Michigan bore the device of a panther, locally known by the name ‘wild cat’.
1838The Jeffersonian (Albany) 14 Apr. 72/3 About 400 Irishmen working on the canal, took offence at being paid in ‘Wild Cat’ money, instead of Illinois. 1839Mrs. Kirkland New Home xxxi. 205 Once in the grasp of a ‘wild cat bank,’ his struggles were unavailing. a1854W. North Slave of Lamp 38 (Bartlett) Much bogus coin and wild-cat, red dog bills are in circulation. 1881Hughes Rugby, Tennessee ii. v, Wild-cat whisky—or ‘moonshine’ as the favourite illicit beverage of the mountains is called. 1890Daily News 12 Nov. 6/2 In no way did I undertake to uphold Major Barttelot in any wild-cat expedition. 1959Daily Tel. 31 Dec. 11/2 ‘Wildcat’ risk in bank staffs. 1973Black Panther 29 Sept. 3/3 A majority of the Black workers..voted..to reject the union proposal, upholding the original wildcat demand. 1976M. Machlin Pipeline xix. 241 Some people think it was some wildcat members of 798 that set them after the company laid off about a hundred of them.
c. Special Comb.: wildcat drilling, the drilling of a wildcat well; wildcat strike, a sudden and unofficial strike; hence wildcat striker; similarly wildcat stoppage, wild cat walkout; wildcat train U.S., an extra train running in addition to those on the timetable (see quot. 1885); occas. ellipt.; similarly wildcat engine; wildcat well = sense 3 c above.
1937Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists XXI. 1079 A study of wildcat drilling in the Gulf Coast Plains during 1935 and 1936 indicates that between 7 and 11 per cent of all such holes opened new oil or gas pools, the remaining 93–89 per cent having been dry. These figures speak eloquently of the risk involved in wildcat drilling. 1976Offshore Platforms & Pipelining 60/1 The time span from hard freeze in late autumn to the melt in the late spring leaves an opportunity for no more than about 6,000 ft of wildcat drilling.
1888Missouri Replublican 23 Feb., The Montreal night express was thrown from the track..by a wild-cat engine that had been turned loose..by an evil-disposed person. 1891E. S. Ellis Check No. 2134 xiii. 88 There was just one chance in a hundred of a wild-cat engine approaching. 1974Telegraph (Brisbane) 5 Feb. 16/1 Freelance truckers entered the fifth day of their wildcat stoppage.
1937Sun (Baltimore) 16 Nov. 3/1 A clause..conceding to the corporation the right to discipline persons responsible for ‘wildcat’ strikes. 1954Encounter June 7/2 [The workers'] behaviour itself becomes a judgement... It..takes the form of slow⁓downs, a silent war against production standards, and most spectacularly in the violent eruptions of wildcat strikes against ‘speed-ups’ or changes in the timing of jobs. 1978S. Brill Teamsters v. 179 Carey led a militant wildcat strike over a symbolic issue.
1945Chicago Daily News 10 Dec. 1/9 (caption) Would fire or fine wildcat strikers. 1981M. Nabb Death of Englishman ii. iii. 89 He wasn't going to stand by and see his country insulted, disrupted..by wildcat strikers.
1870Daily Territorial Enterprise (Virginia City, Nevada) 22 Oct. 3/1 In company with four or five others, he had gone out on the road upon a hand car, when a ‘wild cat train’ (an extra train running on no regular time) overtook them. 1885Good Words July 452/1 Every now and then the newspapers allude to ‘wild-cat’ trains... The ‘wild-cat’ is the slowest of all trains. It is only used for freight, and reaches its destination when it can, running whenever the line is clear, and shunting when a passenger train is due on the same track. 1942Sun (Baltimore) 26 Sept. 9/6 Our estimated 400 were out in what both union and management termed a ‘wildcat’ walkout. 1977Time 28 Mar. 46/2 The month-long wildcat walkout by 3,000 precision toolmakers at British Leyland.
1883Century Mag. July 331/2 When he begins to put down a wild-cat well, he usually leases all the land in the vicinity. 1907Bull. U.S. Geol. Survey No. 318. 25 In making maps of subsurface strata in areas that have not been productive, most of the records used for making a convergence sheet must be taken from ‘wild-cat wells’. 1975W. G. Roberts Quest for Oil (rev. ed.) iii. 35 It is nowadays extremely rare to hear of anyone sinking a true ‘wildcat’ well—that is, one drilled simply because someone has a hunch that his patch of ground has oil beneath. |