OYSTER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does oyster mean? 

• OYSTER (noun)
  The noun OYSTER has 3 senses:

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

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

  Familiarity information: OYSTER used as a noun is uncommon.

• OYSTER (verb)
  The verb OYSTER has 1 sense:

1. gather oysters, dig oysters

  Familiarity information: OYSTER used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OYSTER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("oyster" is a kind of...):

bivalve; lamellibranch; pelecypod (marine or freshwater mollusks having a soft body with platelike gills enclosed within two shells hinged together)

Meronyms (parts of "oyster"):

huitre; oyster (edible body of any of numerous oysters)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "oyster"):

seed oyster (a young oyster especially of a size for transplantation)

blue point; bluepoint (small edible oyster typically from the southern shore of Long Island)

Japanese oyster; Ostrea gigas (a large oyster native to Japan and introduced along the Pacific coast of the United States; a candidate for introduction in Chesapeake Bay)

Virginia oyster (common edible oyster of Atlantic coast of North America)

pearl oyster; Pinctada margaritifera (tropical marine bivalve found chiefly off eastern Asia and Pacific coast of North America and Central America; a major source of pearls)

Anomia ephippium; saddle oyster (thin-shelled bivalve having the right valve deeply notched)

capiz; Placuna placenta; window oyster; windowpane oyster (marine bivalve common in Philippine coastal waters characterized by a large thin flat translucent shell)

Holonyms ("oyster" is a member of...):

family Ostreidae; Ostreidae (oysters)

Derivation:

oyster (gather oysters, dig oysters)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Edible body of any of numerous oysters

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

huitre; oyster

Hypernyms ("oyster" is a kind of...):

shellfish (meat of edible aquatic invertebrate with a shell (especially a mollusk or crustacean))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "oyster"):

oysters Rockefeller (oysters spread with butter and spinach and seasonings and baked on the half shell)

blue point; bluepoint (oysters originally from Long Island Sound but now from anywhere along the northeastern seacoast; usually eaten raw)

Holonyms ("oyster" is a part of...):

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

Derivation:

oyster (gather oysters, dig oysters)

Sense 3

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("oyster" is a kind of...):

helping; portion; serving (an individual quantity of food or drink taken as part of a meal)

Holonyms ("oyster" is a part of...):

bird; fowl (the flesh of a bird or fowl (wild or domestic) used as food)

• OYSTER (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Gather oysters, dig oysters

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "oyster" is one way to...):

collect; garner; gather; pull together (assemble or get together)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

In the summer they like to go out and oyster

Derivation:

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

oyster (edible body of any of numerous oysters)

 Context examples 

But Mrs. Crupp said, Don't say that; oysters was in, why not them?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Began to tell his adventures in a vague way, but somebody started to pick holes, and he just shut up like an oyster.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The world is your oyster, dear Cancer, so choose a destination that excites you.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Indeed, I cannot think why the whole bed of the ocean is not one solid mass of oysters, so prolific the creatures seem.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I continued three days feeding on oysters and limpets, to save my own provisions; and I fortunately found a brook of excellent water, which gave me great relief.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are found in seafood, including fatty fish (such as salmon, tuna, and trout) and shellfish (such as crab, mussels, and oysters).

(Omega-3s linked with lower risk of fatal heart attacks, NIH)

Marooned three years agone, he continued, and lived on goats since then, and berries, and oysters.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

C. lari is associated in recurrent gastroenteritis in children, causes septicemia and enteritis in immunodeficient patients and is commensal in healthy seagulls, birds, mussels and oysters.

(Campylobacter lari, NCI Thesaurus)

Studies of how global environmental change is impacting marine organisms have long focused on physiological effects—for example, an oyster’s decreased ability to build or maintain a strong shell in an ocean that is becoming more acidic due to excess levels of carbon dioxide.

(Study considers sensory impacts of environmental change on ocean species, National Science Foundation)

When I went to get some oysters for Hannah, Mr. Laurence was in the fish shop, but he didn't see me, for I kept behind the fish barrel, and he was busy with Mr. Cutter the fish-man.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)