Link Centre Dictionary

oyster

oys·ter

UK/ˈɔɪ.stə/ US/ˈɔɪ.stɚ/ fairly common slang uk
noun (3) verb (1)

noun

1.

marine mollusks having a rough irregular shell; found on the sea bed mostly in coastal waters

2.

edible body of any of numerous oysters

Synonyms
3.

a small muscle on each side of the back of a fowl

verb

1.

gather oysters, dig oysters

Origin

From Middle English oystre, from Old English ostre, reinforced or superseded by Anglo-Norman oistre, which is from Old French oistre, uistre (compare modern French huître); both lines (Old English and Old French) from Latin ostrea, from Ancient Greek ὄστρεον (óstreon). Doublet of ostro (“a purple dye”).

Phrases

  • American oyster
  • Atlantic oyster
  • Belon oyster
  • black-bordered oyster
  • black-lip pearl oyster
  • bluff oyster
  • box oyster
  • bunch oyster

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.