wildcatter

noun wild·cat·ter \ ˈwī(-ə)l(d)-ˌka-tər \

Definition of wildcatter

1 : one that drills wells in the hope of finding oil in territory not known to be an oil field

2 : one that promotes unsafe and unreliable enterprises; especially : one that sells stocks in such enterprises

3 : one that designs, builds, or fires wildcat cartridges and firearms

4 : a worker who goes out on a wildcat strike

wildcatter was our Word of the Day on 08/10/2010. Hear the podcast!

Recent Examples of wildcatter from the Web

The strategy isn’t as risky as staking wildcatters or borrowing heavily to buy entire oil companies, but profits are usually lower.

— ryan dezember, WSJ, "From $2 Billion to Zero: A Private-Equity Fund Goes Bust in the Oil Patch," 16 July 2017
Perry Richardson Bass was the nephew of Sid Richardson, a Texas wildcatter who earned a fortune in oil during the Depression and left $11 million to his nephew in 1959.

— kelly crow, WSJ, "Matisse, van Gogh, Rothko Head to Auction," 21 Oct. 2017
The nation's second-largest city vs. the fourth; surfer-dude lifestyle vs. cowboy realness; movie moguls vs. wildcatters; Disneyland vs. Astroworld (er, sorry about that one, Houston).

— greg morago, Houston Chronicle, "LA vs. Houston: How the cities stack up," 24 Oct. 2017
Goldman lent to natural-gas wildcatter Aubrey McClendon against his wine collection, according to an Oklahoma filing.

— liz hoffman, WSJ, "Why Goldman Sachs Seized a Client’s 217-Foot Yacht," 10 Aug. 2017
As the wildcatters pump water into the earth, deep pits form and the amber, lighter than the rocks and sand, is pushed up in the water column.

— brendan hoffman, National Geographic, "The Dramatic Impact of Illegal Amber Mining in Ukraine’s Wild West," 31 Jan. 2017
Wildcatters have moved in, and so have the armed groups that now call themselves the law here.

— written by nicholas casey; photographs by meridith kohut, New York Times, "Hard Times in Venezuela Breed Malaria as Desperate Flock to Mines," 16 Aug. 2016
An energy economist who got his start in New York during a tumultuous period for oil in the 1970s, Mr. Ross today boasts a personal network that spans the globe: from the Saudi royal family to west Texas wildcatters to Wall Street oil traders.

— alison sider, WSJ, "From Arab Sheiks to Dakota Frackers: The Oil Industry’s Go-To Analyst," 24 Feb. 2017
As the wildcatters pump water into the earth, deep pits form and the amber, lighter than the rocks and sand, is pushed up in the water column.

— brendan hoffman, National Geographic, "The Dramatic Impact of Illegal Amber Mining in Ukraine’s Wild West," 31 Jan. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wildcatter.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Messing with a wildcat, such as a lynx, can be a pretty risky undertaking, but ferocious felines played only an indirect role in the development of the word wildcatter. That term has been used in English since the late 19th century, along with the verb "wildcat," which refers to the risky practice of drilling experimental oil wells in territory not known to produce oil. English-speakers associated "wildcat" with risk-taking ventures after a number of U.S. banks fraudulently issued banknotes with little or no capital to back them up. Supposedly, the banknotes issued by one particular bank bore the image of a panther or, as it was known locally, a "wildcat," and it was those risky notes that led to the financial risk-taking senses of "wildcat" and "wildcatter."