wild oats

Related to wild oats: sow wild oats

wild oats

The youthful rebelliousness or promiscuity that one partakes in before settling down. Most commonly used in the phrase "sow (one's) wild oats." Bill and I had to break up because I was looking to get married, and he just wanted to sow his wild oats! You can't sow your wild oats forever! Soon, you'll want a wife and a house, and you'll regret the things you're doing now.
See also: oat, wild
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

wild oats, to sow one's

To behave foolishly and indulge in excess while one is young. The term has been around since at least the late sixteenth century. It alludes to sowing inferior wild grain instead of superior cultivated grain, analogous here to sexual promiscuity, and suggests that one will eventually outgrow such foolishness. As Thomas Hughes wrote in Tom Brown at Oxford (1861), “A young fellow must sow his wild oats,” but he then adds, “You can make nothing but a devil’s maxim of it.”
See also: sow, wild
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • wild oats, to sow one's
  • sow (one's) wild oats
  • sow one's wild oats
  • sow wild oats
  • sow your wild oats
  • there is a black sheep in every flock
  • a/the black sheep
  • black sheep
  • the black sheep
  • round heels
References in periodicals archive
Caption: SINGLE COMBAT Wild Oats XI and LDV Comanche left the other supermaxis in their wakes.
SPATIAL AWARENESS
The Mark Richard's captained Wild Oats and Bells Loyal are meeting for the first time in anger since last year's Sydney to Hobart.
Michael Clarke finds himself 'all at sea' for first time in life!
Among the products being featured at Walmart are Wild Oats Marketplace Organic, which adheres to USDA guidelines for organic certification and includes canned vegetables (88-cents per 15-ounce can) and a full range of spices starting at $2.48.
Organics for the masses
is unveiling nearly 100 pantry items under the Wild Oats label over the next several months, adding to the 1,600 organic food items it already carries.
Cheap organic foods in store; Wal-Mart using Wild Oats line
Hassan and Khan stated that the wheat plant height was affected by the wild oat, Avena fatua L., density.
Effects of different nitrogen levels on competition between wild mustard, Sinapis arvensis L. and wheat, Triticum aestivum L
The Bloomberg report notes that an entity named Wild Oats Marketing LLC has applied to open grocery stores, using the address of Yucaipa on Sunset Blvd.
Yucaipa may make bid for Fresh & Easy
In claiming all three milestones, Wild Oats XI emulated the feat it achieved in 2005 and becomes the only yacht ever to secure two trebles.
Wild Oats in historic Sydney-Hobart triple crown
Sherell, who has worked for Gilliland 17 years going back to their Wild Oats days, says Gilliland wanted to model Wild Oats after Henry's Market, a farmer's market-style grocer that Wild Oats had acquired, and brought the idea to the board.
CEO of the year: Mike Gilliland applies hard-earned lessons to Sunflower Farmers Markets
Excluding the estimated impact of the Wild Oats acquisition, adjusted net income was $51.0 million, the company said.
Whole Foods Comps Up 9.3% in Q1
After it was announced in February that the company intended to buy Wild Oats for $565 million, Whole Foods' chief executive and cofounder John P.
Whole Foods gets fresh: from setting up shop in gayborhoods across the country to donating profits to queer causes, Whole Foods has gone out of its way to make nice with the gays. But for some LGBT customers, the organic grocer's recent takeover of rival Wild Oats has put a black spot on Whole Foods' leafy-green image
The assets were acquired by Whole Foods as part of the $565-million Wild Oats Markets deal.
Whole Foods Sells Henry's, Sun Harvest Stores
Word on the Little Rock retail scene has Wild Oats Natural Marketplace establishing a location at the Promenade at Chenal project under construction in west Little Rock.
Shop talk
Wild Oats, the Boulder, Colorado-headquartered natural foods chain, sold 44% more frozen spinach in the two weeks after the outbreak than in the same period a year earlier.
Frozen spinach gains mixed after fresh spinach scandal
Availabilty: Wild Oats, Whole Foods Market and most other health food stores.
Some crust! The E Magazine frozen organic pizza bake-off