Dictionary

wild man en · NOUN

Etymology

From Middle English wilde man. Cognate with Dutch wildeman (“wildman, savage”). By surface analysis, wild + man.

Meanings

1. (European) A mythic or legendary primitive man inhabiting forests or wilderness regions, typically depicted as hairy all over and unclothed.
   • He had rescued the duchess from the very fangs of the monster, which, he assured the ladies, was neither a wolf, nor a bear, nor yet a wild man of the woods. 1820, Washington Irving, “The Widow's Ordeal”, in The Crayon Papers:
   • "So said Hair-Face, and they killed him, because, they said, he was a wild man and wanted to go back and live in a tree." 1914, Jack London, The Strength of the Strong:
2. (European, qualifier:In heraldry and art) A mythic or legendary primitive man inhabiting forests or wilderness regions, typically depicted as hairy all over and unclothed. ▸ A representation of such a figure, usually shown as a club-bearing, hairy man of the woods.
3. A rowdy, dissolute, rash, or violent man.
   • In no time, she has persuaded him to unleash his inner wild man, and soon they are washing down pills with booze and bouncing off the walls. 2014 March 14, Stephen Holden, "Where Performance Enhancers Are Legal" (film review), New York Times (retrieved 4 June 2015)
   • He's a wild man, with all kinds of punches,—a whirlwind,— and he gets his man in the first rounds. 1905, Jack London, chapter 3, in The Game:
   • [H]e was a sinner, unregenerated, a wild man in her estimation, a being of quite another kind than herself. 1879, Anthony Trollope, chapter 18, in John Caldigate:
   • "David and I are very enthusiastic people, and we want to be able to make lots of noise. . . . David is quite a wild man when he gets excited with music." 1901, Upton Sinclair, chapter 1, in King Midas:
4. A man who advocates unorthodox or outrageous opinions or who behaves in an eccentric manner.
   • "They're saying I'm a wild man. If I turn the trick, they'll say I'm a genius." So said Royal Little, the mild, 50-year-old president of Textron Inc., whose unconventional production ideas have built a textile empire in less than three years. 1946 May 27, “Textron's Trick”, in Time, retrieved 04 Jun 2015:
   • In popular lore, Feynman often comes off as the wild man of physics, throwing out one crazy idea after another in a frenzied search for truth. 2011 April 1, George Johnson, "Richard Feynman, the Thinker" (book review), New York Times (retrieved 4 June 2015)

Forms

Coordinates

wild woman · wild woman

Synonyms

roughneck (violent, dissolute, rash, or rowdy person) · oddball · miscreant (violent, dissolute, rash, or rowdy person) · woodwose (hairy primitive man) · rascal (violent, dissolute, rash, or rowdy person) · ruffian (violent, dissolute, rash, or rowdy person) · weirdo · kook (person exhibiting unorthodox views or eccentric behavior)