Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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Annotations
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Oates, ote , a grain going back centuries, the word appears to come from the area of Holland known as Frisia,
used in bread, as gruel, in porridge a latter word, in a brew.
‘1683 T. TRYON Way to Health 29 Oatmeal is to be accounted the best of all Flour’
as Oatmeal:
OED:
2. Proverb. all the world is oatmeal (and variants): ‘the world is full of plenty; life consists entirely of pleasure and amusement. Obs.1542 N. UDALL tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes II. f. 296, Leosthenes had persuaded the citee of Athenes to make warre beeyng set agog to thynke all ye worlde otemele.
1615 J. SWETNAM Arraignm. Women iii. 34 The worlde is not all made of otemeale, nor all is not golde that glisters.
1673 Vinegar & Must. iii. sig. A5v, Now you are come a shore, you think that the world runs on wheels, and that all the world is oatmeal.
‘oat’ can be singular or plural.
OED has plenty to say on the word and its derivatives. -
Oats, ‘A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people. …’
S. Johnson, Dictionary.., 1755http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/dic/johnson/oats/oats.html
{Could not resist … apologies.)