Oat
[əʊt] or [ot]
Definition
(noun.) seed of the annual grass Avena sativa (spoken of primarily in the plural as `oats').
(noun.) annual grass of Europe and North Africa; grains used as food and fodder (referred to primarily in the plural: `oats').
Checked by Jacques--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A well-known cereal grass (Avena sativa), and its edible grain; -- commonly used in the plural and in a collective sense.
(n.) A musical pipe made of oat straw.
Checked by Antoine
Definition
n. a well-known grassy plant the seeds of which are much used as food: its seeds: a musical pipe of oat-straw: a shepherd's pipe pastoral song generally.—n. Oat′cake a thin broad cake made of oatmeal.—adj. Oat′en consisting of an oat stem or straw: made of oatmeal.—ns. Oat′-grass two species of oat useful more as fodder than for the seed; Oat′meal meal made of oats.—Sow one's wild oats to indulge in the usual youthful dissipations.
Editor: Wilma
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream that oats hold the vision, portends a variety of good things. The farmer will especially advance in fortune and domestic harmony. To see decayed oats, foretells that sorrow will displace bright hopes.
Typed by Eugenia
Unserious Contents or Definition
England's horse-feed, America's breakfast and Scotland's table-d'hote.
Checker: Scott
Examples
- Half-an-hour's recreation succeeded, then study; then the glass of water and the piece of oat-cake, prayers, and bed. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- They have wine and spices and fair bread; and we oat-cake and straw, and water to drink. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- In the rotation of crops there was a recognised season for wild oats; but they were not to be sown more than once. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- Neolithic men cultivated and ate wheat, barley, and millet, but they knew nothing of oats or rye. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Stiff, coarse straw will not answer unless packed very solid; finer and softer, as of thickly sown oats, is better, and the walls which it forms need not be quite so thick. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- I did not altogether like Elliston in _Wild Oats. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- The American college student has the gravity and mental habits of a Supreme Court judge; his wild oats are rarely spiritual; the critical, analytical habit of mind is distrusted. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- On the following Saturday it was shown at Trappe, and it was afterwards used on the farm of Mr. Tench Tilghman, where 180 acres of wheat, oats and barley were cut with it. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- The land was divided by long rows of trees, not regularly planted, but naturally growing; there was great plenty of grass, and several fields of oats. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- Oats in their tongue are called _hlunnh_. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- Only I wish you had sown those wild oats of yours, George. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- I hope Osborne has sown his wild oats, said Mrs. Magenis to Mrs. Bunny. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- The American machine cut an acre of oats in twenty-two minutes, the English machine in sixty-six minutes, and the Algerian in seventy-two. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- The horse immediately ordered a white mare servant of his family to bring me a good quantity of oats in a sort of wooden tray. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- Elliston plays in _Wild Oats_, but he will come to us between the acts, or after the play, I have no doubt. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- They dined in the best room, and had oats boiled in milk for the second course, which the old horse ate warm, but the rest cold. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- The prices of malt and oats seem here to lie higher than their ordinary proportion to the price of wheat. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
Checker: Mandy