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oat

Syllabification: (oat)
Pronunciation: /ōt/
Translate oat | into French | into German | into Spanish
Definition of oat

noun

  • a cereal plant cultivated chiefly in cool climates and widely used for animal feed as well as human consumption.
    • Avena sativa, family Gramineae
  • (oats) the grain yielded by this, used as food.
  • used in names of wild grasses related to the cultivated oat, e.g., wild oat.

Phrases

feel one's oats

North American informal feel lively and energetic.

sow one's wild oats

go through a period of wild or promiscuous behavior while young.

Derivatives

oaten

Pronunciation: /ˈōtn/
adjective
( archaic)

oaty

adjective

Origin:

Old English āte, plural ātan, of unknown origin. Unlike other names of cereals (such as wheat, barley, etc.), oat is not a mass noun and may originally have denoted the individual grain, which may imply that oats were eaten in grains and not as meal

oat in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of oat in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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