sow one's wild oats
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.06 in modern English
22
Scrabble Score
15
Letters
1
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To engage in premarital or extramarital flings.
verb
To have numerous sexual partners.
verb
To indulge in a period of irresponsible behavior.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "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."
- "“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."
Etymology
From being a typical useless or counterproductive occupation (wild oats is a weed, and would not be sown).