See Also: Oyster(medicine)
oyster(dictionary)
oyster bed(dictionary)
oyster(encyclopedia)
oyster(dictionary)
Oyster(recipes)
Oyster mushrooms(recipes)
Oyster Soup(recipes)
Oyster po' boys(recipes)
Oyster sauce(recipes)

oyster (iou)



oyster noun, verb, & adjective. ME.

A. noun.
Any of various bivalve molluscs of the family Ostreidae, several of which are eaten (esp. raw) as a delicacy and may be farmed for food or pearls; esp. the common European Ostrea edulis, and members of the widespread genus Crassostrea. Also (usu. with specifying word), any of various similar bivalves. ME.
mangrove oyster, Olympia oyster, pearl oyster, saddle-oyster, thorny oyster, etc.
b. fig. A thing regarded as containing all one desires. Esp. in the world is one's oyster. L16.
c. fig. A reserved or uncommunicative person. E20.
d. A type of unmoored submarine mine detonated magnetically or acoustically as a vessel passes over it. Freq. attrib. M20.
An oyster-shaped piece of meat in the front hollow of the side bone of a fowl, esp. a chicken. M19.
A greyish-white colour resembling that of an oyster. E20.
Any of the cross-sections of wood in an oyster-veneer. E20.
Phrases: green oyster a cultivated oyster fed on diatoms. MOUNTAIN oyster. PRAIRIE oyster. vegetable oyster salsify (see oyster-plant (b) below).
Comb.: oyster-bank (a) a part of the seabed where oysters breed or are bred; (b) Geology a layer or stratum containing fossil oysters; oyster bar (a) = oyster-bank (a) above; (b) a bar at which oysters are served as food; oyster-bed = oyster-bank above; oyster blenny a blenny of the western Pacific, Petroscirtes anolius, which lives in empty oyster-shells; oyster-boat: used in oyster-fishing or oyster-farming; oyster-brood the spat of oysters in its second year; oyster-cellar Hist. a shop (orig. in a basement) selling oysters; oyster drill: see DRILL noun2 1b; oyster-farm an area of the seabed where oysters are bred for food or pearls; oyster-farmer a person engaged in oyster-farming; oyster-farming the breeding and rearing of oysters for food or pearls; oyster-fish any of various fishes which frequent oyster-beds, esp. (a) = oyster toadfish s.v. TOADFISH 3; (b) the tautog; oyster-grass any of various seaweeds, esp. sea lettuce, Ulva lactuca; oyster-knife a strong knife adapted for opening oysters; oyster loaf: see LOAF noun1; oyster-man a man who gathers or sells oysters; oyster mushroom an edible fungus, Pleurotus ostreatus, which grows on trees; oyster-piece a piece of oyster-veneer; oyster-plant (a) a glaucous plant of northern beaches, Mertensia maritima, of the borage family, with cymes of tubular blue flowers; (b) salsify, Tragopogon porrifolius, whose roots are said to taste like oysters; oyster-plover = OYSTERCATCHER; oyster roast US a social gathering at which oysters are roasted and eaten; oyster-shaped adjective of the shape of an oyster; of irregular rounded shape, tapered slightly at one end; oyster toadfish: see TOADFISH 3; oyster-tongs: used for gathering oysters in shallow water and having inward-bending teeth and long handles; oyster-veneer a whorled veneer obtained esp. from small boughs of trees (freq. attrib.); oyster-veneered adjective made in oyster-veneer; oyster-white noun & adjective (of) a greyish-white colour; oyster-woman a woman who gathers or sells oysters.
b. verb intrans. Fish for or gather oysters. M17.
C. adjective. Of a greyish-white colour. L19.
J. Cannan A handsome dress of oyster satin.
oysterage noun an oyster-bed M19.
oysterer noun (a) a person who gathers or sells oysters; (b) an oyster-boat: E17.
oystering noun (a) the action of the verb; (b) (work done with) oyster-veneer: M17.
oysterish adjective resembling (that of) an oyster M19.
oyster-like adjective (a) resembling (that of) an oyster; (b) fig. reserved, uncommunicative: L18.
oysterous adjective resembling an oyster, esp. in colour M19.
oystery adjective (a) having many oysters; (b) having the quality of an oyster: M19.