Word.ws English Dictionary

sows one's wild oats

sows one's wild oats is the third-person singular simple present indicative of sow one's wild oats.

Meaning of sow one's wild oats

Verb

sow one's wild oats (third-person singular simple present sows one's wild oats, present participle sowing one's wild oats, simple past sowed one's wild oats, past participle sown one's wild oats or sowed one's wild oats)

  1. (figuratively, idiomatic) To spread one's genes around by impregnating many females.
  2. (broadly, idiomatic) To engage in premarital or extramarital flings.
    • 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...1869, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, “Learning to Forget”, in Little Women: […], 2nd part, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC, page 264
  3. (broadly, idiomatic) To have numerous sexual partners.
  4. (broadly, idiomatic, often) To indulge in a period of irresponsible behavior.

Questions about sows one's wild oats

What is sows one's wild oats the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Sows one's wild oats is the third-person singular simple present indicative of sow one's wild oats.

Words near sows one's wild oats in the dictionary

  1. SOWPODS
  2. sowre
  3. sows
  4. sows dragon's teeth
  5. sows one's oats
  6. sows one's wild oats
  7. sows the seeds of
  8. sowse
  9. sowsed
  10. sowses
  11. sowsing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sows one's wild oats (page history and authors); sow one's wild 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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