wildcat
Of or concerning businesses operating outside standard or legitimate practice, especiallyOf or concerning businesses operating outside standard or legitimate practice, especially
» Algeria's wildcat wild populations need to recover.
Amastan · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
6 senses(derogatory, not comparable, usually)Of or concerning businesses operating outside standard or legitimate practice, especially
outside the bounds of legitimate or ethical business practices
Of or concerning businesses operating outside standard or legitimate practice, especially:
(dated, derogatory, not comparable, usually)Of or concerning irresponsible banks or banking, (particularly) small, independent operations.
(derogatory, not comparable, usually)Of or concerning oil exploration in new areas, (particularly) small, independent operations.
(derogatory, not comparable, usually)Of or concerning actions undertaken by workers without approval or in defiance of the formal leadership of their trade unions.
(not comparable)Of or concerning customized or hand-made cartridges.
(not comparable)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.
Examples
12 sentencesAlgeria's wildcat wild populations need to recover.
Tom organized a wildcat strike.
Wildcats are always hunting.
Have you ever seen a wildcat in Algeria?
I have never seen a wildcat in Algeria.
Origin
From Middle English wyld cat, wylde cat (in the plural as wild cattes, wylde catis, wyle cFrom Middle English wyld cat, wylde cat (in the plural as wild cattes, wylde catis, wyle cattes), equivalent to wild + cat. Cognate with Middle Low German wiltkatte, German Wildkatze, Swedish vildkatt.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Synonyms
2 synonyms- without official authorization:unauthorizedunauthorised