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 Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Caffeine-free, earthy, with blue butterfly pea flowers, oat flowers and a pinch of ginger.—Daniel Scheffler, Forbes.com, 7 Sep. 2025 Whole foods rich in both soluble and insoluble fiber include oats, prunes, kiwis, legumes, leafy vegetables, pears and whole grains.—Daryl Austin, USA Today, 6 Sep. 2025 Made with prebiotic oat to soothe irritation and support the skin barrier, the gentle cream also has feverfew extract, which is packed with antioxidants that reduce redness and further calm irritation.—Jenny Berg, Vogue, 4 Sep. 2025 In addition to protein and fiber, oat bread contains beta-glucan, a soluble fiber naturally found in oats, barley, and rye.—Lindsey Desoto, Verywell Health, 2 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for oat
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
Share