Definition of OAT

oat

Plural: oats

Noun

  • A cereal grass cultivated for its edible grain.
  • annual grass of Europe and North Africa; grains used as food and fodder (referred to primarily in the plural: `oats')
  • seed of the annual grass Avena sativa (spoken of primarily in the plural as `oats')
  • Widely cultivated cereal grass, typically Avena sativa.
  • Any of the numerous species, varieties, or cultivars of any of several similar grain plants in genus Avena.
  • The seeds of the oat, a grain, harvested as a food crop and for animal feed.
  • A simple musical pipe made of oat-straw.
  • The tiniest amount; a whit or jot.

Prep_Phrase

  • Alternative letter-case form of OAT.

Examples

  • Even a tiny word like OAT can earn valuable points if placed on a bonus square.
  • The main forms of oat are meal and bran.
  • The oat stalks made good straw.
  • The wild red oat is thought to be the ancestor of modern food oats.
  • World trade in oat is increasing.

Origin / Etymology

Inherited from Middle English ote, from Old English āte, from Proto-Germanic *aitǭ (“swelling; gland; nodule”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyd- (“to swell”). See English atter.
Cognates
Germanic: cognate with Scots ait (“oat”), Dutch oot, aat (“oat”), Saterland Frisian Aate (“pea”), German Low German Aat ‘oat’, obsolete Luxembourgish Otz ‘oat’, Icelandic át ‘feed, fodder’. Further related to Icelandic eitill (“nodule”), Norwegian Bokmål eitel (“knot, gland”), Norwegian Nynorsk eitel (“knot, gland”), Old High German eiz (“abscess”) (German Eiter (“pus”), Eiß (“ulcer”)), Dutch etter (“pus”), Saterland Frisian eitel (“fast, raging”), Old Norse eitill (“nodule”), West Frisian iete
Indo-European: Latin aemidus (“swollen, protuberant”), Old Church Slavonic ꙗдъ (jadŭ, “poison”), Ancient Greek οἰδέω (oidéō, “to swell”), Albanian ënjt (“to swell, inflame”), Old Armenian այտնում (aytnum, “to swell”), այտ (ayt, “cheek”), Sanskrit इन्दु (índu, “water drop”)

Scrabble Score: 3

oat: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
oat: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
oat: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 3

oat: valid Words With Friends Word