oyster
[oi-ster]
- any of several edible, marine, bivalve mollusks of the family Ostreidae, having an irregularly shaped shell, occurring on the bottom or adhering to rocks or other objects in shallow water.
- the oyster-shaped bit of dark meat in the front hollow of the side bone of a fowl.
- Slang. a closemouthed or uncommunicative person, especially one who keeps secrets well.
- something from which a person may extract or derive advantage: The world is my oyster.
- oyster white.
Show More
- to dredge for or otherwise take oysters.
Show More
Origin of oyster
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
dustydrabgreysilveryclamcrustaceanmollusksnailscallopconchcrawfishprawnshrimplobstermusseloysterstoneleadslateneutralExamples from the Web for oyster
Contemporary Examples
If you want to be a human being, and a popular human being, then you have to stop being an oyster and come out of your shell.
What a sauce that is,” he enthused, “which dresses an oyster I suck from the mouth of the woman I love!
Seduce Like a Writer: How 7 Famous Scribes WooedJoni Rendon, Shannon McKenna Schmidt
February 13, 2014
I added a few impossible positions, just to have a little fun, like the Swan Flying over the Oyster Shell.
The Business of Sex: Amy Tan’s ‘The Valley of Amazement’ on Shanghai CourtesansJane Ciabattari
November 8, 2013
A television series, Mama, was broadcast from a studio above The Oyster Bar beginning in 1949.
Other, greener options, like wetland restoration or oyster reefs, could also help slow waves before they reach the city.
Historical Examples
He has the constitution of a rhinoceros, the digestion of an ostrich, and the concentration of an oyster.
Little DorritCharles Dickens
One morning Gervaise surprised her emptying a basket of oyster shells there.
L'AssommoirEmile Zola
Strain in the milk and oyster liquor, and stir and cook well.
The Skilful CookMary Harrison
Strain in the milk, add the oyster liquor, stir, and cook well.
The Skilful CookMary Harrison
Otherwise they were canned as the Tricholoma and oyster mushroom.
The Mushroom, Edible and OtherwiseM. E. Hard
oyster
- any edible marine bivalve mollusc of the genus Ostrea, having a rough irregularly shaped shell and occurring on the sea bed, mostly in coastal waters
- (as modifier)oyster farm; oyster knife
- any of various similar and related molluscs, such as the pearl oyster and the saddle oyster (Anomia ephippium)
- the oyster-shaped piece of dark meat in the hollow of the pelvic bone of a fowl
- something from which advantage, delight, profit, etc, may be derivedthe world is his oyster
- informal a very uncommunicative person
Show More
- (intr) to dredge for, gather, or raise oysters
Show More
Word Origin
C14 oistre, from Old French uistre, from Latin ostrea, from Greek ostreon; related to Greek osteon bone, ostrakon shell
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for oyster
n.
early 14c., from Old French oistre (Modern French huître), from Latin ostrea, plural or fem. of ostreum "oyster," from Greek ostreon, from PIE *ost- "bone" (see osseous). Related to Greek ostrakon "hard shell" and to osteon "bone."
Why then the world's mine Oyster, which I, with sword will open. [Shakespeare, "The Merry Wives of Windsor," II.ii.2]
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with oyster
oyster
see world is one's oyster.
Show More
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.