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
Illustration of oat
oat 1a
Phrases
feel one's oats
: to act in a newly self-confident and often self-important manner
Examples of oat in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the WebThis citrusy flavor complements the autumnal spices and hearty oats.—Emma Phelps, Southern Living, 11 May 2024 The granola is homemade, with an oat and buckwheat base, plus pumpkin seeds, walnuts, olive oil, maple syrup, and other ingredients that vary, and leans savory with fennel, cardamom, and ginger as spices.—Bon Appétit, 3 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for oat
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'oat.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Middle English ote "the grain of the oat plant, the plant itself," going back to Old English āte (weak feminine noun), of uncertain origin
Note:
Old English āte has been compared with regional Dutch aate, oote "wild oats" (West and Zeeland Flanders), West Frisian and Groningen Dutch oat. (These contrast with Dutch haver, denoting cultivated oats, a reflex of the Common Germanic word for the grain.) Michiel de Vaan, in an addenda to the online etymologiebank.nl, believes that the Flanders words are semantic extensions of regional aat "food," of general Germanic origin (see eat entry 2), though this hypothesis would scarcely explain the Old English word. Jan de Vries (Nederlands Etymologisch Woordenboek, Brill, 1971) hypothesizes that the Low Country words may have been borrowed from English.
First Known Use
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Time Traveler
The first known use of oat was
before the 12th century
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