oat
pronunciation
How to pronounce oat in British English:
UK [əʊt]
How to pronounce oat in American English:
US [oʊt]
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- Noun:
- annual grass of Europe and North Africa; grains used as food and fodder (referred to primarily in the plural: `oats')
- seed of the annual grass Avena sativa (spoken of primarily in the plural as `oats')
Word Origin
- oat (n.)
- Old English ate (plural atan) "grain of the oat plant, wild oats," of uncertain origin, possibly from Old Norse eitill "nodule," denoting a single grain, of unknown origin. The English word has cognates in Frisian and some Dutch dialects. Famously defined by Johnson as, "A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people." The usual Germanic name is derived from Proto-Germanic *khabran (cognates: Old Norse hafri, Dutch haver, source of haversack). Wild oats, "crop that one will regret sowing," is first attested 1560s, in reference to the folly of sowing these instead of good grain.That wilfull and vnruly age, which lacketh rypenes and discretion, and (as wee saye) hath not sowed all theyr wyeld Oates. [Thomas Newton, "Lemnie's Touchstone of complexions," 1576] Fred: I still want to sow some wild oats! Lamont: At your age, you don't have no wild oats, you got shredded wheat. ["Sanford and Son"] Hence, to feel (one's) oats "be lively," 1831, originally American English.
Example
- 1. And oat production has fallen by almost ninety-five percent .
- 2. Mix one-half cup of 100-per-cent bran cereal with another whole-grain cereal . Ground flaxseed , chia seeds , oat bran and raw wheat bran also add fibre at breakfast .
- 3. He watched oat seedlings warn each other of danger by releasing jasmonate acid , and tracked the dropping of poisoned leaves by the sonoran brittlebush to ward off competition .
- 4. Turns out an oat is an oat is an oat whether it 's steel cut from the original groat or rolled flat and even presteamed so that it will cook in 90 seconds rather than 15 minutes .