Idiom
sow one's wild oats
Meaning
To spread one's genes around by impregnating many females.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He sowed his wild oats before settling down.”
“In his twenties, he traveled and sowed his wild oats, but now he wants a family.”
“The aging playboy, having spent decades sowing his wild oats across three continents, now faced the quiet regret of children who barely knew his name.”
Examples
simple
“He sowed his wild oats before settling down.”
contextual
“In his twenties, he traveled and sowed his wild oats, but now he wants a family.”
complex
“The aging playboy, having spent decades sowing his wild oats across three continents, now faced the quiet regret of children who barely knew his name.”
Origin
From being a typical useless or counterproductive occupation (wild oats is a weed, and would not be sown).
Key words
Related idioms
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