English Explanatory Dictionary

oyster

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Any of certain marine bivalve mollusks, especially those of the family Ostreidae (the true oysters), usually found adhering to rocks or other fixed objects in shallow water along the seacoasts, or in brackish water in the mouth of rivers.
  2. The delicate oyster-shaped morsel of dark meat contained in a small cavity of the bone on each side of the lower part of the back of a fowl.
  3. A pale beige color tinted with grey or pink, like that of an oyster.
  4. A person who keeps secrets.
  5. Something at one's disposal.
  6. A shoplifter.
  7. Ellipsis of Oyster card.
adj
  1. Of a pale beige colour tinted with grey or pink, like that of an oyster.
verb
  1. To fish for oysters.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/ˈɔɪ.stə/ /ˈɔɪ.stɚ/ En-us-oyster.ogg /ˈɔɪ.st͡ʃɚ/

Word forms

oyster oysters erster oister oystre more oyster most oyster oystering oystered

Etymology

From Middle English oystre, from Old English ostre, reinforced or superseded by Anglo-Norman oistre, which is from Old French oistre, uistre (compare modern French huître); both lines (Old English and Old French) from Latin ostrea, from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”).

Related words

ostraceous ostreiculture ostreophage ostreophagous ostriferous astragalus bluepoint carpetbag steak clam lungwort mussel Ostreidae salsify spat

Derived words

American oyster Atlantic oyster Belon oyster black-bordered oyster black-lip pearl oyster bluff oyster box oyster bunch oyster Ceylon pearl oyster Chilean oyster Chincoteague oyster cockscomb oyster Colchester native oyster common European oyster coon oyster corn oyster dredge oyster eastern oyster edible oyster European flat oyster feather oyster fresh-water oyster Glasgow oyster gold-lip oyster green oyster hammer oyster Hong Kong oyster hooded oyster Japanese oyster king oyster mushroom mangrove oyster Miyagi oyster mountain oyster mud oyster Murrumbidgee oyster Olympia oyster oyster ball oysterbank oyster bar Oyster Bay oyster bed oyster blade oyster blade steak oysterboat oyster borer oyster cake Oyster card oystercatcher oyster cellar Oyster Cove oyster crab oyster cracker oyster drill oysterer oyster farm oysterfish oyster fruit oyster grass oysterhood oyster house

Translations

Abenaki: als Afrikaans: oester Albanian: stridhe Arabic: مَحَار Arabic: إسترديا Arabic: محار Armenian: ոստրե Asturian: ostra Azerbaijani: استریدیه Azerbaijani: istiridyə Azerbaijani: stridiya West Coast Bajau: tigom Basque: ostra Belarusian: ву́стрыца Bengali: ঝিনুক Bhojpuri: सीप Breton: istr Bulgarian: стри́да Burmese: ကမာ Catalan: ostra Chinese Cantonese: 蠔 /蚝 Chinese Mandarin: 牡蠣 /牡蛎 Chinese Mandarin: 海蠣子 /海蛎子 Chinese Mandarin: 蠔子 /蚝子 Chinese Mandarin: 蠔 /蚝 Cornish: estren Corsican: ostrica Corsican: ostrice Czech: ústřice Danish: østers Dutch: oester Esperanto: ostro Estonian: auster Faroese: ostra Finnish: osteri French: huître French: huitre North Frisian: Skruk West-Frisian: oester Georgian: ხამანწკა German: Auster Greek: στρείδι Ancient Greek: ὄστρεον Ancient Greek: τῆθος Ancient Greek: γλυκομαρίς Haitian Creole: zwit Hawaiian: kio Hebrew: צִדפָּה Hindi: सीप Hindi: शुक्ति Hungarian: osztriga Icelandic: ostra
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on O Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary