hostile - adjective (Business World) Of a take-over bid or proposed merger: against the wishes of the target company's management; predatory, contested. Etymology: A specialized sense of hostile in its figurative use, with an admixture of the literal meaning 'involving hostilities'. History and Usage: The term arose in the financial markets of the US in the mid seventies. It was the sharp increase in hostile bids in the first half of the eighties that led to the growth of devices such as the buyout, the Pac-Man defence (see Pac-ManÜ), and the poison pill. Greycoat Group...is making a hostile

108 million offer for Property Holding and Investment Trust. The Times 26 Aug. 1986, p.
15 Mr. Segal insists that hostile takeovers, leveraged buyouts and forced restructurings--which he bundles together under the...label 'corporate makeovers'--are 'symptoms, not the disease'. New York Times Book Review 29 Oct. 1989, p. 32

hostile - adj.
1 of an enemy.
2 (often foll. by to) unfriendly, opposed.

hostile witness Law a witness who appears hostile to the party calling him or her and therefore untrustworthy.

hostilely adv. [F hostile or L hostilis (as HOST(1))]