also shophar, ram's horn blown on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, 1833, from Hebrew shophar "ram's horn," related to Arabic sawafiru "ram's horns," Akkadian shapparu "wild goat."
colloquial shortening of boondocks "remote and wild place;" by 1964, originally among U.S. troops in Vietnam War (in reference to the rural areas of the country, as opposed to Saigon).
ancient mammal, 1913, Modern Latin, from Baluchi (see Baluchistan) + Greek thērion "beast" (from PIE root *ghwer- "wild beast"). So called because its fossils originally were found there.
African wild cat, a name applied in zoology to various wild cats since 1771, from Modern Latin serval, French serval (Buffon, 1765), from Portuguese (lobo) cerval "lynx," from Latin lupus cervarius (source of French loup cervier) "lynx," etymologically "wolf that hunts the stag," from cervarius "pertaining to a stag," from cervus "stag," from PIE *ker-wo- "having horns," suffixed form of root *ker- (1) "horn; head." The actual animals eat small things like rodents and birds. Related: Servaline (adj.)
motorcycle club, the name first attested 1957. They were called Black Rebels in the 1954 film "The Wild One." Earlier Hell's Angels had been used as the title of a film about World War I air combat (1930).
"a heavy blow," 1805, from bash (v.). The meaning "an attempt" is attested by 1945. On a bash "on a drunken spree" is slang from 1901, which gave the word its sense of "a wild party."
"something hung up to keep wild animals away, a scarecrow," mid-13c., sheueles, perhaps in Old English as *sciewels, from the same source as shy (adj.); a derivative of the Germanic verb which in Modern German became scheuen "to scare."
type of cereal plant, Middle English ote, from Old English ate (plural atan) "grain of the oat plant, wild oats," a word of uncertain origin, possibly from Old Norse eitill "nodule," denoting a single grain, itself of unknown origin. The English word has cognates in Frisian and some Dutch dialects. Famously defined by Johnson as, "A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people." Related: Oats.
The usual Germanic name is derived from Proto-Germanic *khabran (source also of Old Norse hafri, Dutch haver, source of haversack). Figurative wild oats "youthful excesses" (the notion is "crop that one will regret sowing") is attested by 1560s, in reference to the folly of sowing these instead of good grain. Hence, feel (one's) oats "be lively," 1831, originally American English.
That wilfull and vnruly age, which lacketh rypenes and discretion, and (as wee saye) hath not sowed all theyr wyeld Oates. [Thomas Newton, "Lemnie's Touchstone of complexions," 1576]
Fred: I still want to sow some wild oats!
Lamont: At your age, you don't have no wild oats, you got shredded wheat.
["Sanford and Son"]
1530s, from Latin truculentus "fierce, savage, stern, harsh, cruel," from trux (genitive trucis) "fierce, rough, savage, wild," perhaps from a suffixed form of PIE root *tere- (2) "cross over, pass through, overcome." Related: Truculently.
