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wild oats

British  

plural noun

  1. slang the indiscretions of youth, esp dissoluteness before settling down (esp in the phrase sow one's wild oats )

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

wild oats Idioms  

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In the bad, late-'90s cable version of this story, Minda's sowing her wild oats but eventually realizes he's the one, and then they get married and have babies and whatever.

From Salon • Oct. 1, 2023

In Season 2, Gwen has attempted to sow her wild oats as a D.J. in Bali, and she returns home with a fresh, if not always welcome, perspective.

From New York Times • Aug. 4, 2022

Miles of rolling fields blanketed in faded wild oats and yellow starthistle line the gently curving roads into this isolated enclave an hour’s drive south of Redding.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 9, 2022

When the first ranchers arrived in Boulder, they encountered nearly ideal rangeland: dense with bluegrass and bunchgrass and wild oats, veined with natural troughs to channel the rain.

From The New Yorker • Sep. 24, 2018

Halfway up the hill they could see Nellie and the iron-gray gelding, Pete, nibbling the heads from the wild oats.

From "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck

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