oyster

plural oysters · alternative erster · alternative obsolete oister · alternative obsolete oystre

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.

   He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.

   1731 (date written), Simon Wagstaff [pseudonym; Jonathan Swift], “Dialogue II”, in A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation, […], London: […] B[enjamin] Motte […], published 1738, →OCLC, page 120

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   Piſt. Why then the world's mine Oyſter, which I, with ſword will open.

   c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 45, lines 2–5

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.

   Cut remaining skin on back. Remove the oyster (choice dark meat in spoon-shaped bone on back) with the leg.

   1971, United States Bureau of Naval Personnel, “Food preparation”, in Steward 3 & 2, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 148

3. Any of the fungi in the genera Pleurotus, Hohenbuehelia, or other related genera.
4. A pale beige color tinted with grey or pink, like that of an oyster.
5. colloquialby analogyA person who keeps secrets.

   I will not be a human oyster. No, I will lay my cards on the table, which is assuredly a thing that oysters do not do.

   1928, Agatha Christie, The Mystery of the Blue Train

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   Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.

   1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave I. Marley’s Ghost.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 3

6. figurativelySomething at one's disposal.

   He asked a major Chicago retailer with a large store in the heart of the city about the socioeconomic character of his customers. The man replied proudly that the entire range of economic classes was his oyster.

   1959, Vance Packard, The Status Seekers, Pocket Books, published 1971, →ISBN, page 116

7. UKslangA shoplifter.
8. UKabbreviationellipsisslangEllipsis of Oyster card.

comparative more oyster · superlative most oyster · alternative erster · alternative obsolete oister · alternative obsolete oystre

1. Of a pale beige colour tinted with grey or pink, like that of an oyster.

present singular third person oysters · participle present oystering · participle past oystered · past oystered · alternative erster · alternative obsolete oister · alternative obsolete oystre

1. intransitiveTo fish for oysters.

   Most Fishneck watermen oystered in winter, using the same small skiffs from which they potted crabs in summer. Sometimes two men oystered from the same boat or took along a son or younger brother to cull oysters (separate those of legal size from undersized ones and shell).

   1986, Carolyn Ellis, Fisher Folk: Two Communities on Chesapeake Bay, University Press of Kentucky, →ISBN, page 77

plural Oysters

1. A surname.