wild as a Tuckernuck steer

English

Adjective

wild as a Tuckernuck steer (not comparable)

1. (rare, US, simile) Wild, reckless, harum-scarum.
   • 1939, Enid Johnson, Anne Merriman Peck, Ho for Californy!:

     “Sounds wild as a Tuckernuck steer,” he observed. “What brings Peleg here now, Sister Abby? Thee said his last letter told thee of his fine new job ..."

   • 1942, Elizabeth Hollister Frost, This side of land: an island epic, page 89:

     […] and went hand over hand, a knife in his teeth — wild as a Tuckernuck steer, Fred was — out the line, cut away the lashings, […]

   • 1961, Danger to windward, page 25:

     "Davy was born as wild as a Tuckernuck steer and time ain't chastened him none."

   • 2007, Michael Hite, The Last Boat, →ISBN, page 2:

     The shock of the frigid sea made my nerves wild as a Tuckernuck steer. I felt freeze-dried as the icy cold electrified my vitals.

References

• William Francis Macy, Roland B. Hussey (1916) The Nantucket Scrap Basket: Being a Collection of Characteristic Stories and Sayings of the People of the Town and Island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, page 151: “"Wild as a Tuckernuck Steer"—Wild, harum-scarum. Many beef cattle were formerly raised on Tuckernuck, and their antics, when brought into the gay metropolis of Nantucket town, probably gave rise to this expression.”