Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 7.pdf/356

 1608. Middleton, A Mad World, My Masters, i. 1. I must let fly my civil fortunes, turn wild-brain, lay my wits upo' th' tenters, you rascals.

Wild-cat, adj. phr. (American commercial).—Reckless, hazardous, unsound: orig. applied to banking enterprises of doubtful (if of no worse) character: cf. Blue-pup, Red-dog, etc. [Bartlett: A bank in Michigan had a large vignette on its notes representing a panther, familiarly called a Wild-cat. This bank failed, a large amount of its notes were in circulation, which were denominated Wild-cat money, and the bank issuing them the Wild-cat bank. Other banks stopped payment soon after, and the term became general in Michigan, to denote banking institutions of an unsound character.] Hence Wild-cat currency, schemes, etc.

1842. Clavers, Forest Life, i. 91. We had to sell some of our land to pay taxes on the rest,—and then took our pay in Wild-cat money that turned to waste paper before we could get it off our hands.

1858. Baltimore Sun, 8 July. Certain it is that we are overrun with a wild-cat currency.

1877. Galaxy, 632. When the Yankee mind stoops to criminal pursuits, it is likely to manifest itself in the way of bank forgeries, embezzlements, or the formation of petroleum bubbles or wild-cat banking institutions.

1896. Lillard, Poker Stories, 56. He went to the bartender and got a lot of wild-cat money, wrapped it around with a couple of twenties, and put some fives in the middle.

1901. Free Lance, 9 Feb., 471. 1. Old ladies sell out of Consols to raise money with which to gamble in a wild-cat mining company, and end as dependents on the charity of their friends.

Wild-dell, subs. phr. (Old Cant).—A dell (q.v.) or girl begotten and born under a hedge.

Wild-goose, subs. phr. (old military).—A recruit for the Irish Brigade in the service of France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Wild-goose Chase, subs. phr. (common).—The pursuit of anything unprofitable or absurd; a blind hunt. [Dyce: Orig. 'a kind of horse-race, in which two horses were started together, and whichever rider could get the lead, the other was obliged to follow him over whatever ground he chose to go.']

1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, ii. 4. If our wits run the wild-goose chase, I have done; for thou hast more of the wild-goose in one of thy wits, than I have in my whole five.

d. 1650. Fletcher, Poems, 202. No hints of truth on foot? no sparks of grace? No late sprung light to dance the wild-goose chase?

Wild Indians (The), subs. phr. (military).—The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians). Both battalions trace some sort of connection with the Indians of N. America and the 'Indians' of the East: the first battalion having formerly been the 100th Foot, an expression of Canadian loyalty at the time of the Mutiny, and the 2nd battalion, the 109th (Bombay Infantry) Regiment, originally raised by the Hon. East India Company.

Wild Irishman (The), subs. phr. (railway).—The evening mail train between Euston and Holyhead: cf. Flying Dutchman, etc.

Wild-mare, subs. phr. (old).—The nightmare.