different between oyster vs oystery

English

Alternative forms

• erster (New York City and New Orleans)
• oister (obsolete)
• oystre (obsolete)

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From Middle English oystre, from Old English ostre, reinforced or superseded by Anglo-Norman oistre, which is from Old French oistre, uistre (compare modern French huître); both lines (Old English and Old French) from Latin ostrea,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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???.st?(?)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???.st?/
• Rhymes: -??st?(?)

Noun

oyster (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.
   • 1731, Jonathan Swift, Polite Conversation, 1841, The Works of Jonathan Swift, Volume 2, page 344,

     He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.

2. The delicate 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. (colloquial, by analogy) A person who keeps secrets.
5. (Britain, slang) A shoplifter.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

oyster (comparative more oyster, superlative most oyster)

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

Verb

oyster (third-person singular simple present oysters, present participle oystering, simple past and past participle oystered)

1. (intransitive) To fish for oysters.

See also

• astragalus
• bluepoint
• carpetbag steak
• clam
• lungwort
• mussel
• Ostreidae
• salsify
• spat
• Appendix:Colors

References

• oyster at OneLook Dictionary Search
• oyster on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Storey, Troyes, oystre, storey, toyers, tyroes

English

Etymology

oyster +? -y

Noun

oystery (plural oysteries)

1. (possibly dated) A fishery for oysters; a place where oysters are kept and grown.

Adjective

oystery (comparative more oystery, superlative most oystery)

1. Resembling an oyster in some way, especially in color or scent.
   • 2005, Davitt Sigerson, Faithful, page 15:

     It strolls along her oystery lips, dipping in and pulling out. Now it moves to the back, and just rests its weight against her, like she's the inkpad for his fingerprint. it turns a little to nestle in, sealing against her.

   • 2009, John Updike, The Afterlife: And Other Stories:
   • […] chairs—their horsehair cushions holding that musty, oystery scent country parlors have—there was fat modern furniture in pastel shades surrounding a glass table supported on wrought-iron scrolls.
   • 2010, Reggie Nadelson, Bloody London, page 215:

     A faint oystery light smudged the November sky outside the window.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:oystery.