wildcatter

plural wildcatters

1. USSomeone who drills for oil speculatively.

   Many wildcatters dug dry wells, or “dusters,” and scurried away in despair.

   2021 (originally published 2017, adapted 2021), David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon: Adapted for Younger Readers, page 50

   1 more example

   One of America's most successful “'wildcatters” is poised to explore for oil in Venezuela after agreeing a draft deal with the country's authorities and buying seismic data to gain a head start on rivals.

   2026 July 18, Jamie Smyth, “‘’Wildcatter' who cracked Alaska sets sight on Venezuela”, in FT Weekend (Companies & Markets section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 11

2. A worker who participates in a wildcat strike.
3. engineeringA person who makes wildcat cartridges and the guns that use them.

   Roy Weatherby began his career in the firearms industry as a “wildcatter”, developing his revolutionary ideas about rifle cartridge performance and design.

   a. 2005, “Ammunition”, in Weatherby, archived from the original on 15 Feb 2005