Dictionary

sow one's wild oats en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From being a typical useless or counterproductive occupation (wild oats is a weed, and would not be sown).

Meanings

1. (figuratively, idiomatic, of a male) To spread one's genes around by impregnating many females.
2. (broadly, idiomatic, of a male or female) To engage in premarital or extramarital flings.
   • “A nun advising a young woman to leave the convent and explore the world, the subtext being to sow her wild oats—well, it was more outrageous than any graphic scenes,” he had said. 2022, Ling Ma, “Office Hours”, in Bliss Montage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN:
   • Let the boys be boys,—the longer the better,—and let the young men sow their wild oats if they must,—but mothers, sisters, and friends may help to make the crop a small one, and keep many tares from spoiling the harvest, by believing,—and showing that they believe,—in the possibility of loyalty to the virtues which make men manliest in good women's eyes. 1869, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, “Learning to Forget”, in Little Women: […], 2nd part, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC, page 264:
   • The young men go down to the sea and sow their wild oats in the wicked ports, returning periodically, between voyages, to live the old intensive morality, to court till ten o’clock, to sit under the minister each Sunday, and to listen at home to the same stern precepts that the elders preached to them from the time they were laddies. 1914, Jack London, “Samuel”, in The Strength of the Strong, New York: MacMillan:
3. (broadly, idiomatic, of a male or female) To have numerous sexual partners.
4. (broadly, idiomatic, of young adults or the recently divorced, often) To indulge in a period of irresponsible behavior.

Forms

Relateds

get one's oats · feel one's oats

Translations (11)

pl przekazać geny (to spread a male's genes) · de sich die Hörner abstoßen (to spend a period of one's youth behaving irresponsibly) · pl przekazywać geny (to spread a male's genes) · it correre la cavallina (to spend a period of one's youth behaving irresponsibly) · sv så sin havre (to spread a male's genes) · uk розно́сити своє́ сі́м'я (to spread a male's genes) · sv så vildhavre (to spread a male's genes) · uk розгуля́тися в мо́лодості (to spend a period of one's youth behaving irresponsibly) · fr jeter sa gourme (to spend a period of one's youth behaving irresponsibly) · da løbe hornene af sig (to spend a period of one's youth behaving irresponsibly) · pl być trudnym nastolatkiem (to spend a period of one's youth behaving irresponsibly)