Definition of "oyster"

oyster

/ˈɔɪstə/

noun
plural oysters
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.
  Quotations
  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, [Act II, scene ii], page 45, lines 2–5
  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, page 120
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.
  Quotations
  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. (color) A pale beige color tinted with grey or pink, like that of an oyster.
4. (colloquial, by analogy) A person who keeps secrets.
  Quotations
  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. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], page 3
5. (figurative) Something at one's disposal.
  Quotations
  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, page 116
6. (UK, slang) A shoplifter.
7. (UK, slang) Ellipsis of Oyster card.
adjective
comparative more oyster, superlative most oyster
1. Of a pale beige colour tinted with grey or pink, like that of an oyster.
verb
third-person singular simple present oysters, present participle oystering, simple past and past participle oystered
1. (intransitive) To fish for oysters.
  Quotations
  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, page 77

Definition of "oyster"

oyster

noun

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adjective

verb

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