wild

• enPR: wīld, IPA^(key): /waɪld/
• Rhymes: -aɪld

• Audio (US)

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From Middle English wild, wilde, from Old English wilde, from Proto-Germanic *wilþijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“hair, wool, grass, ear (of corn), forest”). Cognate with West Frisian wyld (“wild”), Dutch wild (“wild”), German wild (“wild”), Danish vild (“wild”), Swedish vild (“wild”), Norwegian vill (“wild”), Icelandic villtur (“wild”).

wild (comparative wilder, superlative wildest)

1. Untamed; not domesticated; specifically, in an unbroken line of undomesticated animals (as opposed to feral, referring to undomesticated animals whose ancestors were domesticated).

   Antonym: tame

   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     Winter's not gone yet, if the wild geese fly that way.

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     The woods and desert caves, / With wild thyme and gadding vine o'ergrown.

   • 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

     Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.

   Przewalski's horses are the only remaining wild horses.

2. From or relating to wild creatures.

   wild honey

3. Unrestrained or uninhibited.

   I was filled with wild rage when I discovered the infidelity, and punched a hole in the wall.

4. Raucous, unruly, or licentious.

   The fraternity was infamous for its wild parties, which frequently resulted in police involvement.

5. Visibly and overtly anxious; frantic.
   • 2011 August 7, Chris Bevan, “Man City 2-3 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport:

     City, in contrast, were lethargic in every area of the pitch and their main contribution in the first half-hour was to keep referee Phil Dowd busy, with Micah Richards among four of their players booked early on, in his case for a wild lunge on Young.

   Her mother was wild with fear when she didn't return home after the party.

6. Disheveled, tangled, or untidy.

   After a week on the trail without a mirror, my hair was wild and dirty.

7. Enthusiastic.

   I'm not wild about the idea of a two day car trip with my nephews, but it's my only option.

8. Inaccurate.

   The novice archer fired a wild shot and hit her opponent's target.

9. Exposed to the wind and sea; unsheltered.

   a wild roadstead

10. (nautical) Hard to steer; said of a vessel.
11. (mathematics, of a knot) Not capable of being represented as a finite closed polygonal chain.

    Antonym: tame

12. (slang) Amazing, awesome, unbelievable.

    Did you hear? Pat won the lottery! - Wow, that's wild!

13. Able to stand in for others, e.g. a card in games, or a text character in computer pattern matching.

    In this card game, aces are wild: they can take the place of any other card.

    • 2009, Leonardo Vanneschi, ‎Steven Gustafson, ‎Alberto Moraglio, Genetic Programming: 12th European Conference

      We define a pattern as a valid GP subtree that might contain wild characters [i.e. wildcards] in any of its nodes.

wild (comparative more wild, superlative most wild)

1. Inaccurately; not on target.

   The javelin flew wild and struck a spectator, to the horror of all observing.

wild (plural wilds)

1. The undomesticated state of a wild animal

   After mending the lion's leg, we returned him to the wild.

2. (chiefly in the plural) a wilderness
   • 1730–1774, Oliver Goldsmith, Introductory to Switzerland

     Thus every good his native wilds impart

     Imprints the patriot passion on his heart;

     And e’en those ills that round his mansion rise

     Enhance the bliss his scanty funds supplies.

wild (third-person singular simple present wilds, present participle wilding, simple past and past participle wilded)

1. (intransitive, slang) To commit random acts of assault, robbery, and rape in an urban setting, especially as a gang.
   • 1989, David E. Pitt, Jogger's Attackers Terrorized at Least 9 in 2 Hours, New York Times (April 22, 1989), page 1:

     ...Chief of Detectives Robert Colangelo, who said the attacks appeared unrelated to money, race, drugs, or alcohol, said that some of the 20 youths brought in for questioning has told investigators that the crime spree was the product of a pastime called "wilding".

     "It's not a term that we in the police had heard before," the chief said, noting that the police were unaware of any similar incident in the park recently. "They just said, 'We were going wilding.' In my mind at this point, it implies that they were going to raise hell."...

   • 1999, Busta Rhymes (Trevor Taheim Smith, Jr.), Iz They Wildin Wit Us? (song)

     Now is they wildin with us / And getting rowdy with us.

wild (plural wilds)

1. Alternative form of weald

From Middle Dutch wilt, from Dutch wild, from Old Dutch *wildi, from Proto-Germanic *wilþijaz.

• IPA^(key): /vəlt/

wild (attributive wilde, comparative wilder, superlative wildste)

1. wild

From Middle Dutch wilt, from Old Dutch wildi, from Proto-Germanic *wilþijaz.

• IPA^(key): /ʋɪlt/

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• Hyphenation: wild
• Rhymes: -ɪlt

wild (comparative wilder, superlative wildst)

1. wild

• wildebras
• wildplassen
• wildplukken
• wildvreemd

• Afrikaans: wild

wild n (uncountable)

1. game (food; animals hunted for meat)
2. wildlife
3. wilderness

• jachtwild
• wildwissel

• Afrikaans: wild

• lidw.

From Old High German wildi, from Proto-Germanic *wilþijaz. Compare Dutch wild, English wild, Danish vild.

• IPA^(key): /vɪlt/

• audio (Austria)

  (file)

• Audio

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wild (comparative wilder, superlative am wildesten)

1. wild

• wild in Duden online

• IPA^(key): /vilt/

wild (comparative wilder, superlative wildest)

1. wild

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

From Old Saxon wildi, from Proto-Germanic *wilþijaz. Compare English, Dutch and German wild, West Frisian wyld, Danish vild.

• IPA^(key): /wɪlt/

wild (comparative willer, superlative willst)

1. wild

From Arabic وَلَدَ‎ (walada, “to give birth”).

wild ?

1. birth