Meanings
- historicalbankingA paper currency that was issued by banks in the 19th century when there was no federal regulation of banks.
Now, we go further and find that these banks which issued this wildcat money, one after another failed, and created enormous disturbances .
1935, United States. Congress. House, Hearings, page 4862 more examples
Heretofore, the end that should have been sought—a faultless medium of exchange—had been lost sight of; and every writer who has presented a new theory of money, not to mention the old one, has become entangled with the dogmas, State supervision, "measure of value," "standard of value," and legal tender; or lost his bearings and shipwrecked among the breakers—fiat money, wildcat money, monometallism, bimetallism, and the like.
1895, Alfred B. Westrup, The New Philosophy of Money, page 8Many of our "sound money" men, after the death of "free silver," follow after "assets banking," and try to delude themselves that they are not really harking back to the cult of that old money demon whose handiwork is "wildcat money," like that which some of our fathers still living knew and remember to their sorrow .
1908, Wilbur Aldrich, Money and Credit, page 104Synonyms: wildcat, wildcat currency, wildcat note
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA paper currency that was issued by banks in the 19th century when there was no federal regulation of banks.
Cite this entry
wildcat money. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wildcat%20money
“wildcat money.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wildcat%20money. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wildcat money,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wildcat%20money.
Source: wildcat money on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.