wild

Etymology 1

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

adj

1. Untamed; not domesticated; specifically, in an unbroken line of undomesticated animals (as opposed to feral, referring to undomesticated animals whose ancestors were domesticated).
   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. 2013 May–June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3
   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. (electrical engineering) Of unregulated and varying frequency.
   The aircraft's navigational equipment should not be powered from the wild AC bus except in an emergency, as its computers can be damaged by variations in electrical frequency.
6. Visibly and overtly anxious; frantic.
   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. August 7, 2011, Chris Bevan, “Man City 2-3 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport
   Her mother was wild with fear when she didn't return home after the party.
7. Furious; very angry.
8. Disheveled, tangled, or untidy.
   After a week on the trail without a mirror, my hair was wild and dirty.
9. Enthusiastic.
   I'm not wild about the idea of a two day car trip with my nephews, but it's my only option.
10. Very inaccurate; far off the mark.
    The novice archer fired a wild shot and hit her opponent's target.
11. Exposed to the wind and sea; unsheltered.
    a wild roadstead
12. (nautical, of a vessel) Hard to steer.
13. (mathematics, of a knot) Not capable of being represented as a finite closed polygonal chain.
14. (slang) Amazing, awesome, unbelievable.
    Did you hear? Pat won the lottery! — Wow, that's wild!
15. 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.
    We define a pattern as a valid GP subtree that might contain wild characters [i.e. wildcards] in any of its nodes. 2009, Leonardo Vanneschi, Steven Gustafson, Alberto Moraglio, Genetic Programming: 12th European Conference
16. Of an audio recording: intended to be synchronized with film or video but recorded separately.
    a wild track; wild sound

adv

1. Inaccurately; not on target.
   The javelin flew wild and struck a spectator, to the horror of all observing.
2. (of an audio recording) Intended to be synchronized with film or video but recorded separately.
   Let's record it wild.

noun

1. (singular, with "the") 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.

verb

1. (intransitive, slang) To commit random acts of assault, robbery, and rape in an urban setting, especially as a gang.
   ...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."... April 22 1989, David E. Pitt, “Jogger's Attackers Terrorized at Least 9 in 2 Hours”, in New York Times, page 1
   Now is they wildin with us / And getting rowdy with us. 1999, Busta Rhymes (Trevor Taheim Smith, Jr.), Iz They Wildin Wit Us? (song)
2. (intransitive, slang) (In the form wilding or wildin') To act in a strange or unexpected way.
   They had a big influence on me. They had a big influence on Brooklyn period. I like the nonsense. [laughs] They were wildin'. Everyone in Brooklyn was liking that shit. They're wildin'. Their story in the stu, it gets deep. 2021-04-06, Shirley Ju, “The New Voice of Brooklyn is Here To 'Drench 'Em'”, in Flaunt Magazine, archived from the original on 2022-09-07
   Kinsey posted a clip of the incident alongside a caption that reads: "Damn the ER in Tulsa be wildin'." 2021-10-14, Jack Beresford, “Hospital Security Guard 'Heartbroken' After Being Fired Over Viral Video Confrontation”, in Newsweek
   The Ringer's Culture/NBA writer Wosney Lambre said it best: "I think it's a bad look for the players to be wilding on the fans like this. Fair or not, the players are held to a higher standard of decorum than the loser fans. It is what it is." 2022-04-20, A. Sherrod Blakely, “The Neverending Disappointment of Kyrie Irving”, in Bleacher Report

Etymology 2

noun

1. Alternative form of weald