oyster

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 Oyster on Wikipedia

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English[edit]

oyster (1)

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Old English ostre, from Latin ostrea; reinforced or superseded in Middle English by Anglo-Norman oistre, from Old French oistre, uistre (modern French huître), also from Latin ostrea, from Ancient Greek ὄστρεον (ostreon).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

oyster (plural oysters)

  1. Any marine bivalve mollusk of the Family Ostreidae, usually found adhering to rocks or other fixed objects in shallow water along the seacoasts, or in brackish water in the mouth of rivers.
    • Jonathan Swift
      He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.
  2. The delicate morsel of dark meat contained in a small cavity of the bone on each side of the lower part of the back of a fowl.
  3. A pale beige color tinted with grey or pink, like that of an oyster.
    oyster colour:    
  4. (colloquial, by analogy) A person who keeps secrets and private information to him- or herself.

Quotations[edit]

  • 1597-8, William Shakespeare, “Act II, Scene II”, in The Merry Wives of Windsor:
    Why, then the world 's mine oyster"

Translations[edit]

mollusk — See also translations at : clam,‎ mollusc,‎ mussel

Adjective[edit]

oyster (comparative more oyster, superlative most oyster)

  1. Of a pale beige colour tinted with grey or pink, like that of an oyster.

Verb[edit]

oyster (third-person singular simple present oysters, present participle oystering, simple past and past participle oystered)

  1. (intransitive) To fish for oysters.

Derived terms[edit]

Derived terms

See also[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

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