wild (redirected from wildness)

beyond your wildest dreams

far more than you could have hoped for or imagined. Twenty years later the company has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Her books have brought her riches beyond her wildest dreams.

See also: beyond, dream

go hog wild (American, informal)

to become too excited and eager about something, often so that you do too much. There's no need to go hog wild just because it's Sarah's birthday - she won't want such a fuss.

See also: hog

not in my wildest dreams

if you say that you did not imagine something in your wildest dreams, you mean that something that has happened was so strange that you never thought it would happen. Never in my wildest dreams did I think she'd actually carry out her threat. Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined England winning 4-1.

See also: dream

into the wide/wild blue yonder (literary)

if you go into the wide blue yonder, you go somewhere far away that seems exciting because it is not known. I have a sudden desire to escape, to head off into the wide blue yonder and never return.

See also: blue, wide

sow your wild oats

if a young man sows his wild oats, he has a period of his life when he does a lot of exciting things and has a lot of sexual relationships. He'd spent his twenties sowing his wild oats but felt that it was time to settle down.

See also: oat, sow

a wild card

1. someone or something that you do not know much about and whose behaviour in the future you cannot be certain of. The real wild card is the undecided vote, which accounts for 18 to 25 percent of the electorate. The company is fast gaining a reputation as the wild card of Wall Street because of violent fluctuations in its profits.

2. if someone gets a wild card or is a wild card in a sports competition, they are allowed to enter the competition without passing the usual tests. She was included in the European team as a wild card.

See also: card

wild horses

if you say that wild horses couldn't make you do something, you mean nothing could persuade you to do it. Wild horses couldn't drag me to a party tonight.

See also: horse

wild-card

a wild card - if someone gets a wild card or is a wild card in a sports competition, they are allowed to enter the competition without passing the usual tests. Connors, the five-times champion, is among eight wild-card entries to the US Open in New York next month. (always before noun)

a wild-goose chase

a situation where you waste time looking for something that you are not going to find, either because that thing does not exist or because you have been given wrong information about it. After two hours spent wandering in the snow, I realised we were on a wild-goose chase. When I found out that there was no Anita Hill at the university, I began to suspect that I had been sent on a wild-goose chase.

See also: chase

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wild about someone/something

to like someone or something a lot. He's totally wild about her! I'm not wild about apples.

See also: about

wildest dreams

the things that you have imagined, expected, or hoped for. His company has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Never in my wildest dreams did I think she'd actually carry out her threat.

See also: dream