Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Wild-cat

Wild-cat , adjective

1.
Unsound; worthless; irresponsible; unsafe; -- said to have been originally applied to the notes of an insolvent bank in Michigan upon which there was the figure of a panther.
2.
(Railroad) Running without control; running along the line without a train; as, a wild-cat locomotive.