oat (redirected from sow wild oats)

oat  (t)

n.

1. often oats (used with a sing. or pl. verb)

a. Any of various grasses of the genus Avena, especially A. sativa, widely cultivated for their edible grains.

b. The grain of any of these plants, used as food and fodder.

2. A musical pipe made of an oat straw.

---

[Middle English ote, from Old English te.]

---

oat [əʊt]

n

1. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Plants) an erect annual grass, Avena sativa, grown in temperate regions for its edible seed

2. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Plants) (usually plural) the seeds or fruits of this grass

3. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Plants) any of various other grasses of the genus Avena, such as the wild oat

4. (Music / Instruments) Poetic a flute made from an oat straw

feel one's oats US and Canadian informal

a.  to feel exuberant

b.  to feel self-important

get one's oats Slang to have sexual intercourse

sow one's (wild) oats to indulge in adventure or promiscuity during youth

[Old English āte, of obscure origin]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	oat - annual grass of Europe and North Africa; grains used as food and fodder (referred to primarily in the plural: `oats') Avena, genus Avena - oats Avena sativa, cereal oat - widely cultivated in temperate regions for its edible grains Avena fatua, wild oat, wild oat grass - common in meadows and pastures Avena barbata, slender wild oat - oat of southern Europe and southwestern Asia animated oat, Avene sterilis, wild red oat - Mediterranean oat held to be progenitor of modern cultivated oat cereal, cereal grass - grass whose starchy grains are used as food: wheat; rice; rye; oats; maize; buckwheat; millet
	2.	oat - seed of the annual grass Avena sativa (spoken of primarily in the plural as `oats') plural, plural form - the form of a word that is used to denote more than one food grain, grain, cereal - foodstuff prepared from the starchy grains of cereal grasses Avena sativa, cereal oat - widely cultivated in temperate regions for its edible grains

Translations

oat

n usu pl → Hafer m; oats pl (Cook) → Haferflocken pl; to sow one’s wild oats (fig) → sich (dat) → die Hörner abstoßen; he’s feeling his oats → ihn sticht der Hafer; to be off one’s oats (hum inf) → keinen Appetit haben; he hasn’t had his oats for some time (hum inf) → der hat schon lange keine mehr vernascht (hum sl)