1670. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn (1893), 178], s.v.
1696. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Oats. One that has sold his wild oats, or one having run out of all, begins to take up and be more staied.
b.1707. Durfey, Pills to Purge, &c. (1707), ii. 276. Sow your wild Oats, And mind not her wild Notes.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Oats, he has sowed his wild oats, he is staid, or sober, having left off his wild tricks.
1858. Lytton, What Will He Do With It? viii. v. Poole had picked up some wild oats—he had sown them now.
Feed of oats, subs. phr. (common).—1. A whip; and (2) a beating.
To earn a gallon of oats, verb. phr. (provincial).—Of horses: to fall on the back rolling from one side to the other [Halliwell].
To feel one's oats, verb. phr. (American).—To get bumptious. Cf. Beans.
1888. St. Paul and Minneapolis Pioneer, 22 July. The Kentuckians have certainly brought Little Falls to the front durng the past year, and Little Falls feels her oats, and will undoubtedly expand under her new name of Falls City.
Oath.—To take an oath, verb.
phr. (common).—To drink; to
liquor up (q.v.).—Matsell
(1859).
Highgate oath, subs. phr. (old).—A jocose asseveration which travellers towards London were required to take at a certain tavern at Highgate. They were obliged to swear that they would not prefer small beer before strong, unless indeed they liked the small better; never to kiss the maid if they could kiss the mistress, unless the maid was prettier; with other statements of a similar kind.
Oatmeal, subs. (old).—A roystering
profligate: see Roaring boy
and Dandy.
1656. Ford, Sun's Darling, 1. i. Swagger in my pot-meals, D—n—me's rank with, Do mad pranks with Roaring boys and oatmeals.
All the world is not oatmeal, phr. (old colloquial).—See quots. Cf. Beer and Skittles.
1542. Apoph. of Erasmus (Rept.), 329. When Leosthenes had perswaded the citee of Athenes to make warre beeyng set agog to thinke all the worlde otemele, and to imagin the recouering of an high name of freedome and of principalitee or soueraintee.
1615. Araignment of Lewde, Idle Wowen, cap. iii. par. 1. The worlde is not all made of otemeale, nor all is not golde that glisters.
1673. Vinegar and Mustard, 'Wednesday's Lecture.' Now you are come ashore, you think the world runs on wheels, and that all the world is oatmeal; but you'll find it to the contrary.
Oats-and-barley, subs. phr.
(rhyming).—Charley.
1898. Pink 'Un and Pelican, 149. Bob and his particular chum Oats (which is short rhyming slang for Charley. "Oats-and-Barley" it is in full, but the true art of it lies in the abbreviation).
Oats-and-chaff, subs. phr. (rhyming).—A
footpath.
Oat-stealer, subs. phr. (common).—An
ostler.
Ob, subs. (Winchester College).—A
contraction of 'obit.'
Obadiah, subs. (obsolete).—A
Quaker.
Ob-and-soller, subs. phr. (old).—A
scholastic disputant. [From
'Objection' and 'Solution' used
in the margin of books.]
1638. Whiting, Albino and Bellama [Nares]. Minerva does not all her treasures rivet Into the scrues of obs and sols.
