To sow one's wild oats

To sow one's wild oats
Oat Oat ([=o]t), n.; pl. {Oats} ([=o]ts). [OE. ote, ate, AS. [=a]ta, akin to Fries. oat. Of uncertain origin.] 1. (Bot.) A well-known cereal grass ({Avena sativa}), and its edible grain, used as food and fodder; -- commonly used in the plural and in a collective sense. [1913 Webster]

2. A musical pipe made of oat straw. [Obs.] --Milton. [1913 Webster]

{Animated oats} or {Animal oats} (Bot.), A grass ({Avena sterilis}) much like oats, but with a long spirally twisted awn which coils and uncoils with changes of moisture, and thus gives the grains an apparently automatic motion.

{Oat fowl} (Zo["o]l.), the snow bunting; -- so called from its feeding on oats. [Prov. Eng.]

{Oat grass} (Bot.), the name of several grasses more or less resembling oats, as {Danthonia spicata}, {Danthonia sericea}, and {Arrhenatherum avenaceum}, all common in parts of the United States.

{To feel one's oats}, (a) to be conceited or self-important. [Slang] (b) to feel lively and energetic.

{To sow one's wild oats}, to indulge in youthful dissipation. --Thackeray.

{Wild oats} (Bot.), a grass ({Avena fatua}) much resembling oats, and by some persons supposed to be the original of cultivated oats. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • sow one's wild oats — {v. phr.} To do bad or foolish things, especially while you are young. * /Mr. Jones sowed his wild oats while he was in college, but now he is a wiser and better man./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • sow one's wild oats — {v. phr.} To do bad or foolish things, especially while you are young. * /Mr. Jones sowed his wild oats while he was in college, but now he is a wiser and better man./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • sow one's wild oats — go through a period of wild or promiscuous behaviour while young. → oat sow one s wild oats see oat. → wild oat …   English new terms dictionary

  • sow one's wild oats — ► sow one s wild oats go through a period of wild or promiscuous behaviour while young. Main Entry: ↑oat …   English terms dictionary

  • sow one's wild oats — verb live promiscuously and self indulgently • Syn: ↑sow one s oats • Hypernyms: ↑gratify, ↑pander, ↑indulge • Verb Frames: Somebody s * * * sow one s w …   Useful english dictionary

  • sow one's wild oats — idi sow one s wild oats, to have a youthful fling at reckless, indiscreet behavior …   From formal English to slang

  • To sow one's wild oats — Wild Wild, a. [Compar. {Wilder}; superl. {Wildest}.] [OE. wilde, AS. wilde; akin to OFries. wilde, D. wild, OS. & OHG. wildi, G. wild, Sw. & Dan. vild, Icel. villr wild, bewildered, astray, Goth. wilpeis wild, and G. & OHG. wild game, deer; of… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • sow\ one's\ wild\ oats — v. phr. To do bad or foolish things, especially while you are young. Mr. Jones sowed his wild oats while he was in college, but now he is a wiser and better man …   Словарь американских идиом

  • sow one's wild oats — verb a) To spread ones genes around by impregnating many females. b) To indulge in a period of irresponsible behavior …   Wiktionary

  • sow one's wild oats — live recklessly and self indulgently …   English contemporary dictionary

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