Word.ws English Dictionary

feeling one's oats

feeling one's oats is the present participle and gerund of feel one's oats.

Meaning of feel one's oats

Verb

feel one's oats (third-person singular simple present feels one's oats, present participle feeling one's oats, simple past and past participle felt one's oats)

  1. To feel energetic or frisky; to behave in a vigorous or bold manner; to feel empowered and important.
    • In fact, precisely as a rash, restive horse is said to feel his oats, so Turkey felt his coat.1853 November–December, Herman Melville, “Bartleby”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, →OCLC

Questions about feeling one's oats

What is feeling one's oats the present participle and gerund of?
Feeling one's oats is the present participle and gerund of feel one's oats.

Words near feeling one's oats in the dictionary

  1. feeling like death
  2. feeling like oneself
  3. feeling nine feet tall
  4. feeling no pain
  5. feeling one's legs
  6. feeling one's oats
  7. feeling one's way
  8. feeling oneself
  9. feeling out
  10. feeling someone's collar
  11. feeling sorry for

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: feeling one's oats (page history and authors); feel one's oats (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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