Dictionary

feel one's oats en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Originally American English, an allusion to the behavior of a horse that has been well fed on oats.

Meanings

1. To feel energetic or frisky; to behave in a vigorous or bold manner; to feel empowered and important.
   • “You’re feeling your oats,” said Gin. “It makes you expect too much of the world, feeling your oats. You can’t help thinking there must be something to do about it. There isn’t; because whatever you do about it, it’s not settled.” 1931, Emily Hahn, Beginners Luck:
   • "Them hosses are feeling their oats," said McGuire. "Can't tell what they'd be up to the minute I turned my back on 'em. Might jump that old fence and be off, for all I know." 1922, Max Brand [pseudonym; Frederick Schiller Faust], Alcatraz:
   • In fact, precisely as a rash, restive horse is said to feel his oats, so Turkey felt his coat. 1853 November–December, Herman Melville, “Bartleby”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, →OCLC:
   • Sometimes—and who could blame the surveyor?—when the pony was “feeling his oats,” he might step a little higher and farther, and in that case the beneficiary of the scrip might get a thousand or two more acres in his survey than the scrip called for. 1910, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Georgia's Ruling”, in Whirligigs:
   • Next to the officer is a shabby-looking boy, whose seat is by the right jamb of the jail door. Of all boys just old enough to feel their oats, this boy is the most commonplace. 1865, George Alfred Townsend, The Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes Booth:
   • "It's a tough road because kids at that time are developmentally feeling their oats," Beverage said. 2006 November 16, Candace Rondeaux, “Forming Families, One Adoption at a Time”, in Washington Post, retrieved 05 Nov 2008:
   • The Nationals gave the Coalition its Senate majority and yesterday were feeling their oats. 2004 October 29, Michelle Grattan, “Change ahead in Senate's new dawn”, in The Age, Australia, retrieved 05 Nov 2008:
   • The old man feeling his oats, as he leaned with his back against the bar, said to us with a noticeable degree of pride, "Lads, I'm proud of every one of you. Men who will fight to protect my interests has my purse at their command." 1906, Andy Adams [pseudonym], “The Double Trail”, in Cattle Brands:

Forms

Relateds

sow one's wild oats · oatsy

Translations (2)

de jemanden sticht der Hafer (to feel energetic) · pl być pełnym wigoru (to feel energetic)