Main Entry: oat

Pronunciation: \ˈōt\

Function: noun

Usage: often attributive

Etymology: Middle English ote, from Old English āte

Date: before 12th century

1 a : any of several grasses (genus Avena); especially : a widely cultivated cereal grass (A. sativa) b : a crop or plot of the oat; also : the seed of an oat —usually used in plural but singular or plural in construction
2 archaic : a reed instrument made of an oat straw

— feel one's oats : to act in a newly self-confident and often self-important manner

[oat illustration]