oat
/əʊt
/- Avena sativa, family Gramineae.
- Barley, oats, triticale and rye are all valuable in animal feed, and if managed carefully, can produce profitable yields.
- Monotony came from the self-sufficiency of small farms; since bread was the staple food, most farms grew wheat, along with other cereals like rye, oat, buckwheat, maize and barley.
- On the other hand, wholegrains (such as brown rice, oats, wholemeal bread, wholewheat pasta), tend to give rise to more tempered amounts of insulin.
- In a medium bowl, combine 1 cup flour, muscovado sugar, oats, and oil, mixing well with a spoon or your hands until the mixture holds together in clumps and all the flour is incorporated.
- This vegan cheddar is essentially made out of brown rice, oats and canola oil.
- The seedhead of slender wild oat is very attenuated and from it projects a long (2-inch) awn that looks like an antenna from a large insect.
- Future work will address the impact of infection on these wild grass hosts.
Phrases
feel one's oats
get one's oats
sow one's wild oats
Derivatives
oaten
- Rolls of good quality oaten hay are valued at between $60 and $70 a roll.
- In the west, it was mostly oaten straw that was used and it was important that the material had not been damaged and so, there was great care taken with the straw when it was threshed by the flail.
- In Robin's world, each of his merry man is promised three suits of Lincoln green each year, along with a salary, venison, ‘sweet oaten cakes, and curds and honey’.
oaty
- To accompany your morning coffee, have some oaty chocolate brownies with white and dark chocolate - since there are oats in the mixture, they are a healthier option than some brownies.
- It sat on a spicy, oaty venison haggis which could have been good on its own but not soaked in another shiny gravy called ‘rich game sauce’.
- The chocolate Hob Nob, my favourite British biscuit, becomes a floaty oaty chocolatey mess.
Origin
Old English āte, plural ātan, of unknown origin. Unlike other names of cereals (such as wheat, barley, etc.), oat is not a mass noun and may originally have denoted the individual grain, which may imply that oats were eaten in grains and not as meal.
Oats are used as feed for horses, making them friskier and more energetic, and if you show signs of being lively and buoyant you may be said to be feeling your oats (mid 19th century). To be off your oats (late 19th century), on the other hand, means that you have no appetite for food. Wild oats are weeds found in cornfields which resemble cultivated oats. They have no value as a crop, so you would be wasting your time sowing them instead of good grain. Since the 16th century sowing your wild oats has been a term for behaving wildly or promiscuously when young, while to get your oats [1920s] is to have sex.