Dictionary

wildcat money en · NOUN

Meanings

1. (historical) A 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 486:
   • 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 8:
   • Many 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 104:

Relateds

wildcat bank

Synonyms

wildcat note · wildcat · wildcat currency