Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

oyster

Pronunciation: /ˈɔɪstə/

Translate oyster | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of oyster

noun

  • 1any of a number of bivalve molluscs with rough irregular shells. Several kinds are eaten (especially raw) as a delicacy and may be farmed for food or pearls:
    • a true oyster (family Ostreidae), in particular the edible common European oyster (Ostrea edulis) and American oyster (Crassostrea virginica). [with modifier] a similar bivalve of another family, in particular the thorny oysters (Spondylidae), wing oysters (Pteriidae), and saddle oysters (Anomiidae).
  • 2 (also oyster white) [mass noun] a shade of greyish white.
  • 3an oyster-shaped morsel of meat on each side of the backbone in poultry.

verb

[no object] (usually as noun oystering)
  • raise, dredge, or gather oysters:oystering is still the lifeblood of this town

Phrases

the world is your oyster

you are in a position to take the opportunities that life has to offer: I can do anything I want to, the world’s my oyster
[from Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor ( ii. ii. 5)]

Origin:

Middle English: from Old French oistre, via Latin from Greek ostreon; related to osteon 'bone' and ostrakon 'shell or tile'

oyster in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of oyster in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

  |  Cite

More words in this category

Word of the day

leporine

/ ˈlɛpərʌɪn /
adjective
of or resembling a hare or hares …