| 释义 |
oyster, n.|ˈɔɪstə(r)|
Forms: 4–5 oystre, -ere, 4–6 oistre, (4 hoister, -re), 5 oystur, -yr, (hoystyr, -er), 6–8 oister, 4– oyster; also 4–5 ostre, 5 ostur, -yr, oestre, 6 oster.
[ME. a. OF. oistre, uistre, huistre, mod.F. huître = Pr., Sp., Pg. ostra, obs. It. ostrea, ad. L. ostrea fem., beside ostreum neut., a. Gr. ὄστρεον oyster.]
1. a. A well-known edible bivalve mollusc of the family Ostreidæ; esp. the common European species, Ostrea edulis, and the North American species, O. virginica of the Atlantic, and O. lurida, the Californian oyster, of the Pacific coast.
green oyster, an oyster which has fed on confervæ in tanks. hard oyster, the native northern oyster of U.S., distinguished from the soft oyster found from the Chesapeake Bay southward. mangrove oyster, an oyster growing on the submerged trunks or roots of mangroves, as in Florida. rock oyster or sea oyster, an oyster growing on rocks or natural beds, as opposed to those which are artificially cultivated.
1357–8Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 124 In Oystres empt. vjs. a1377Abingdon Acc. (Camden) 38 In ostreys ixs. c1386Chaucer Sompn. T. 392 Many a Muscle and many an oystre [v. rr. oystere, oyster] Whan othere men hath ben ful wel at eyse Hath been oure foode. c1420Liber Cocorum (1862) 17 For to make potage of oysturs. 1483Cath. Angl. 262/1 An Ostyr,..ostreum, quidam piscis. 1555Eden Decades 95 The fisshe it selfe is more pleasaunte in eatynge then are owre oysters. 1674T. Flatman Belly God 57 Your Wall fleet Oysters no man will prefer Before the juicy Grass-green Colchester. 1756Mangrove oyster [see oyster-crab s.v. 7 d]. 1806Wolcott (P. Pindar) Tristia Wks. 1812 V. 244 Who first an oyster eat, was a bold dog. 1817J. Evans Excurs. Windsor, etc. 451 The green oyster, eaten at Paris, is brought from Dieppe. 1838Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) XVI. 688/2 It abounds with small rock-oysters. 1883C. A. Moloney W. Afr. Fisheries 43 (Fish. Exhib. Publ.) Women go in for the collection of mangrove-oysters. 1883E. P. Ramsay Food Fishes N.S. Wales 37 (ibid.) Recent experiments tend to prove that the Rock-Oyster of our shores..which is left dry by every tide, is only a variety of the Drift-Oyster.
b. fig.
(In allusion to the fable of the monkey who, as judge, kept the oyster and gave a shell to each of the disputants.)
1839Thackeray Major Gahagan ii, The oyster remained with the British Government.
c. Phrases and proverbial expressions.
† to drink to one's oysters, to fare accordingly. † a stopping oyster or choking oyster, a retort which puts a person to silence. as like as an apple to an oyster (and similar phrases), i.e. totally different. the world is my oyster: the world offers opportunities for profit, etc.; also in extended uses.
1472J. Paston in P. Lett. III. 41 For and I had not delt ryght corteysly up on Holy Rood Day I had drownk to myn oystyrs. a1529Skelton Bowge of Courte 477, I haue a stoppynge oyster in my poke. 1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 724/1 Hys similitude of grammer likened vnto fayth, is no more lyke then an apple to an oyster. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. (1877) 61 To a feloe laiyng to his rebuke, that he was ouer deintie of his mouthe and diete, he did with this reason giue a stopping oistre. 1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 36 His wife..deuiseth to cast in my teeth, Checks and chokyng oysters. 1598Shakes. Merry W. ii. ii. 2 Why then the world's mine Oyster, which I, with sword will open. 1648W. Jenkyn Blind Guide 71 Why do you bring him in speaking of apples, when you speake of oysters? 1930J. A. Williamson Short Hist. Brit. Expansion (ed. 2) II. vi. ii. 183 Laissez-faire, with its cosmopolitan view of the world as the trader's oyster. a1938T. Wolfe You can't go Home Again (1940) iii. xxix. 469 Drake was self-contained: the world his oyster, seas his pastures, mighty distances his wings. 1942A. Bryant Yrs. of Endurance xi. 230 He [sc. Napoleon] was not going to waste his incomparable genius to make the world—his oyster—safe for Barras and the plutocrats of the Luxembourg. 1949A. Miller Death of Salesman i. 39 The world is an oyster, but you don't crack it open on a mattress. 1975New Yorker 26 May 66/3 A few weeks after the conference, he told American farmers that the world food market could ‘be our oyster’. 1977‘J. Gash’ Judas Pair vi. 67 The world was my oyster. My uneasy mood had vanished.
d. A reserved or uncommunicative person.
1925M. Wiltshire Thursday's Child xi. 221, I wouldn't mind betting Jane's worrying herself sick over it; and he—goodness knows what he's doing or feeling. I never saw such an oyster. 1930J. B. Priestley Angel Pavement vi. 305, I never knew anybody so close, you old oyster you!
e. A type of unmoored submarine mine detonated magnetically or acoustically as a vessel passes over it. Also attrib.
1947Crowther & Whiddington Science at War iv. 177 The mine mechanism [i.e. of German pressure mines] consisted of a rubber air bag with an aluminium diaphragm. With a change of pressure air escapes from the bag, the diaphragm is moved, and after a time closes an electrical detonating circuit. A change of about 1/1,000th in the total pressure, equivalent to that of about ½ inch of water, exerted for about six seconds, was needed to operate the mechanism. This device, called an ‘oyster’, is shown in Plate XLV. 1950A. P. Herbert Independent Member lii. 308 The enemy..had new terrors by then—the ‘oyster’ or pressure mine. 1955J. F. Turner Service most Silent xi. 155 For the first four years of the War both the Germans and ourselves were developing the top secret mine of the War—the oyster. Ibid., The Luftwaffe produced ‘acoustic oysters’ and the Navy ‘magnetic oysters’. 1965K. Langmaid Approaches are Mined! xiv. 240 The first ‘Oyster’ minefields were laid by German light craft on the night of the 6th/7th of June [1944].
2. a. Commonly applied also to other bivalve molluscs resembling the oyster, as the pearl-oyster, Meleagrina margaritifera, of the family Aviculidæ; also with qualifications, as thorny oyster of the genus Spondylus, boat-oyster, a fossil of the genus Gryphœa, saddle-oyster, etc.: see quots.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xi. vi. (1495), By nyghte..oystres open theymselfe ayenst dewe... And that dewe..bredyth a full precious gemma, a stone that hyghte Margarita. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. v. iv. 63 Rich honestie dwels..in a poore house, as your Pearle in your foule oyster. 1755Young Centaur v. Wks. 1757 IV. 226 If we should find a small pearl in one oyster of a million, it would hardly make us fishers for life. 1828G. Young Geol. Surv. Yorksh. Coast 241 Gryphœa. Boat-oyster, or Miller's thumb. 1840Penny Cycl. XVII. 363–4 Placuna Placenta, vulgarly known as the Chinese Window Oyster,..and Placuna Sella, known to collectors as the Saddle-Oyster (from Tranquebar, etc.). 1869Wood Comm. Shells 85 We come now to the remarkable Saddle Oyster (Anomia ephippium)..recognized by its flat lower valve, in which is a large and nearly oval hole, just below the hinge. 1883E. P. Ramsay Food Fishes N.S. Wales 36 (Fish. Exhib. Publ.) The ‘Hammer-head Oyster’ (Malleus albus, Lam.), &c., are found on our coasts.
†b. long oyster. (See quot.) Obs.
1674Ray Collect. Words, Sea Fishes 105 Long Oyster, Sea-gar, Red Crab: Locusta marina. The name long Oyster is no doubt a Corruption of Locusta. [Rather of Sp., Pg., Pr. langosta, OF. langoste:—L. locusta.]
3. The morsel of dark meat in the front hollow of the side bone of a fowl.
1883H. P. Spofford in Harper's Mag. Aug. 456/1 He rolled under his tongue the sweet morsel of the oyster out of a side bone. 1890M. E. Braddon One Life II. 103 That particular morsel out of a fowl's back which epicures have christened the oyster.
4. vegetable oyster: the salsify (also called oyster-plant: see 7 d).
1884Miller Plant-n., Tragopogon porrifolius, Jerusalem Star, Salsify, Vegetable Oyster.
5. A greyish-white colour resembling that of an oyster. Cf. 7 c.
1922Daily Mail 11 Dec. 14 (Advt.), Silk hose... In black, white,..peacock, flame, oyster. 1960Housewife Apr. 97 Cotton sailcloth... In a choice of three good colours—oyster, light royal blue, or black. 1978H. MacInnes Prelude to Terror ii. 18 A..study in greys, from silver carpeting to pale oyster walls.
6. One of the cross-sections of wood in an oyster veneer.
1924G. O. Wheeler Old Eng. Furnit. (ed. 3) iii. 22 These ‘oysters’ are often in kidney-shape and the welding of a mosaic was no easy task. 1974Country Life 26 Sept. (Suppl.) 60 William III oyster olivewood chest. The top with concentric rings of oysters of decreasing size.
7. attrib. and Comb.
a. simple attrib., as oyster family, oyster kind, oyster-shoal, oyster spat; connected with the taking, breeding, keeping, selling, or eating of oysters, as oyster-bar, oyster-barrel, oyster cry, oyster-culture (hence oyster-culturist), oyster-dish, oyster-dredge, oyster-fishery, oyster-fork, oyster-ground, oyster house, oyster-industry, oyster-keg, oyster-merchant, oyster-monger, oyster navy, oyster-net, oyster pirate, oyster saloon, oyster season, oyster-shop, oyster-smack, oyster-stall, oyster stand, oyster supper, oyster-tavern, oyster voice; made of oysters, as oyster cocktail, oyster cracker, oyster-patty, oyster-pie, oyster-sauce, oyster soup, oyster stew, oyster stuffing, etc.
1878R. L. Stevenson in London 8 June 441/1 They were driven by a sharp fall of sleet into an *Oyster Bar. 1925E. Sitwell Troy Park 74 That child is the small wicked ghost Of Metropoles and oyster bars. 1972E. Hargreaves Fair Green Weed i. 12 I've been eating something called escovitched fish in an oyster bar.
1682T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 74 (1713) II. 201 As much a Mock t' Esquire, 'midst all his Ruff, As empty *Oister-Barrel to a Muff.
1895Funk's Stand. Dict., *Oyster cocktail. 1905Granville Centennial Cook Bk. 121 Oyster Cocktail. c1938[see cocktail 4]. 1957M. McCarthy Memories Catholic Girlhood viii. 203 Olympia oyster cocktail and devilled Dungeness crabs. 1975M. Orr Rich Girl, Poor Girl (1977) xii. 147 The meal..began with an oyster cocktail and progressed to a cold Senegalese soup.
1873Kansas Mag. III. 273/2 Our commissary department was poorly supplied..four small *oyster crackers. 1924Amer. Mercury Apr. 430/1 The custom that some Baptist churches have fallen into of oyster crackers and cubes of bakers' bread in the Lord's supper is to my mind unscriptural. 1975Byfield & Tedeschi Solemn High Murder (1976) iii. 53 Baxter tore open a cellophane envelope of oyster crackers.
1714Gay Trivia i. 28 When..damsels first renew their *oyster cries.
1874Chambers' Encycl. VII. 178/2 In such situations..*oyster-culture can be most..profitably carried on.
1882Daily Tel. 18 Aug. 4/8 *Oysterculturists are becoming alarmed lest the superior oysters known as natives should be contaminated by the near presence of the inferior sort.
1865Geo. Eliot Let. 8 Jan. (1956) IV. 174, I am so much pleased with..the pretty *oyster-dish.
1796Morse Amer. Geog. II. 126 About 10000 people are employed in the *oyster-fishery along the coasts of England.
1834H. J. Nott Novellettes I. 94 He can escape from the empty pageant to the substantial and homely comforts of a beefsteak or *oyster house. 1949Fishing Gaz. Oct. 96/2 Hampton oyster houses are George T. Elliot, M. F. Quinn, and J. S. Daly and Son.
1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VII. 41 Of Bivalved Shell-Fish, or Shells of the *Oyster Kind.
1726B. Franklin Jrnl. Voy. Philadelphia in Mem. Life & Writings (1818) I. App. p. iii, The *oyster-merchants fetch them..from other places. 1869Rep. Comm. Agric. 1868 (U.S. Dept. Agric.) 340 An oyster merchant of Rochelle, doing business with the growers of the adjacent islands of Oleron and Ré, will say {pstlg}250,000 per annum.
1720Strype Stow's Surv. Lond. (1754) I. i. v. 26/2 One Rufe de Reines, *Oystermonger, took a Custom of all Men and Women that washed their Clothes..there.
1932Sun (Baltimore) 19 Sept. 6/5 (heading) Sour note on a recent addition to the *oyster navy. 1962Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.) 21 Mar. 3 (heading) ‘Oyster navy’ gets radar.
1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. II. 122/2 You may take up the Mud from the bottom by means of an *Oyster-Net.
1807M. E. Rundell New Syst. Dom. Cookery 133 (caption) *Oyster patties. 1843Ainsworth's Mag. IV. 97 An eulogy of the excellence of Lord Marmiton's oyster patties. 1932Auden in Rev. Eng. Stud. (1978) Aug. 285 Over oyster patties, I'll explain it all. 1953K. Tennant Joyful Condemned vi. 51 Mrs. Mike was carrying a plate of oyster patties.
1599B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. ii. i, O, Hercules, 'tis your only dish; above all your potatoes or *oyster-pies in the world. 1851A. O. Hall Manhattaner 59 Some of them [sc. mosquitoes] are dainty, and associate only with fat people whose nightmares are based upon turtle steaks and oyster pies. 1976R. Condon Whisper of Axe i. xxiii. 146 They ate oyster pie and crab cakes.
1903J. London Let. 9 Mar. (1966) 147 When the *oyster pirates..arrived, they forced the two watchmen off into the water. 1930J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel ii. 133 Oyster pirates used to shanghai young fellers.
1833Knickerbocker I. 117 To be seen about taverns and *oyster saloons. 1905J. C. Lincoln Partners of Tide vi. 105 The pair entered a little battered restaurant with the sign ‘Atwood's Oyster Saloon’ over the door.
1727‘E. Dorrington’ Hermit I. 27 The boil'd Meat and *Oyster-Sauce. 1798Jane Austen Let. 24 Oct. (1932) I. 9 We..had some beef-steaks and a boiled fowl, but no oyster sauce. 1816‘Quiz’ Grand Master vii. 24 To partake Of oyster-sauce and a beef-steak.
1861Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. p. xxiv. (Index), *Oyster..season. 1866‘F. Kirkland’ Pictorial Bk. Anecdotes 181/2 [He] traded up and down the James and York rivers, especially during the oyster season. 1977Harpers & Queen Nov. 276/3 When the British oyster season is over, the clam trade continues.
1827J. L. Williams View W. Florida 16 The entrance to this bay is obstructed by sand bars and *oyster shoals.
1823in Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1825) 8 Charged with assaulting David Tullock, Esq. at an *oyster-shop in Brydges-street. 1841Dickens Old C. Shop xxxix. 12 Kit, walking into an oyster-shop as bold as if he lived there. 1913Mrs. P. Campbell Let. 25 Mar. in B. Shaw & Mrs. Campbell (1952) 102 Many a rendez-vous at Cheesmans oyster shop.
1802E. Wynne Diary 22 Oct. (1940) III. iv. 69 Several other sailors' bodies have been thrown on shore, it was an *oyster smack that was lost. 1976Times 27 Aug. 17/1 A string of oyster smacks..will be competing in the Thames Oyster Smack Race.
1741E. Smith Compl. Housewife (ed. 10) 62 (heading) *Oyster soop. 1861Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. 103 Oyster soup. 1935M. Morphy Recipes of all Nations 599 Oyster soup..is one of the favourite soups in America.
1836Dickens Pickw. (1837) xxii. 227 Here's a *oyster-stall to every half⁓dozen houses. 1922E. Sitwell Façade 15 Oyster-stall notes.
1830Boston Even. Transcript 29 Sept. 2/4 The *oyster stands in New Orleans have been leased for..the same price as last year. 1851A. O. Hall Manhattaner 7 Oyster stands, where dirty mouths and flickering tallow candles grinned ghostly satisfaction. 1977Times 14 May 13/4 For {pstlg}4,000 to {pstlg}6,000 each..you may be able to buy two Sèvres oyster-stands.
1846D. Corcoran Pickings 128 Mrs. Smith was never known to have an *oyster stew of an evening that she did not divide it with Mrs. Jones. 1973P. A. Whitney Snowfire xiii. 254 He..brought me back a bowl of hot oyster stew and crackers.
1935M. Morphy Recipes of All Nations 611 *Oyster stuffings for poultry are frequently found in old English cookery books. 1971M. G. Eberhart Two Little Rich Girls (1972) ix. 105 The dinner..with its oyster stuffing for the turkey and its huge mince pie.
1741B. Lynde Diary 17 Apr. (1880) 107 *Oyster supper with all the Court. 1856Mrs. Stowe Dred II. 221 He drinks and frolics, and has his oyster-suppers. 1949Missouri Hist. Rev. Apr. 215 He is uneasy at oyster-suppers at the ‘Opera House’.
1612R. Daborne Chr. turn'd Turke 350 Affrighting of whole streetes With your full *Oyster voyce.
b. objective and obj. gen., as oyster-cultivator, oyster-dredger, oyster-eating, oyster-fishing, oyster-grower, oyster-lover, oyster-opener, oyster-planting, oyster-rearing, oyster-seller, oyster shucker, oyster-trawler; oyster-breeding adj.; also instrumental, as oyster-covered adj.
1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 297 Thro' Helle's stormy Streights, and *Oyster-breeding Sea.
1882W. D. Hay Brighter Britain! I. iii. 72 *Oyster-covered rocks. 1905Westm. Gaz. 10 Aug. 1/3 Oyster-covered iron beams and girders.
1508,1723*Oyster-dredger [see dredger1]. 1853Forbes & Hanley Hist. Brit. Mollusca II. 320 Irish oyster-dredgers have a notion that the more the banks are dredged, the more the oysters breed.
1933Sun (Baltimore) 7 Aug. 14/2 An old-fashioned Southern Maryland ‘*oyster eatin'’. 1977Times 22 Jan. 12/3 The return to oyster-eating.
1827W. Clarke Every Night Bk. 62 If the visitor make an ally of the waiter or *oyster-opener, he may often have people pointed out to him there, who are rather worth seeing. 1900W. Stevens Let. 21 Oct. (1967) 47 Fishmen, and grizzly oyster-openers. 1969E. H. Pinto Treen 140 A simple but effective oyster opener, in Colchester Museum, is a wooden block, hollowed out to take a large oyster; [etc.].
1891W. K. Brooks Oyster 127 In some of the Northern States *oyster-planting has been in existence for many years.
1483Cath. Angl. 262/2 An *Ostre seller, ostrearius.
1898Gould Pocket Med. Dict. (ed. 2) 234 *Oyster-shuckers' keratitis, a form due to corneal traumatism from pieces of embedded oyster-shell. 1969L. Hellman Unfinished Woman vi. 61 The oyster shucker..would open oysters for my father. 1973Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 1 July 9/2 Rumor has it that the professional oyster shucker eventually becomes immune to the poison and simply counts his scars.
c. similative, as oyster eye, oyster kiss, oyster-lip; oyster-coloured, oyster-grey, oyster-white adjs.; oyster-coloured, as oyster brocade, oyster satin, etc.
1667Marvell Instr. Painter Dutch Wars 61 Paint her with Oyster-Lip. 1805Naval Chron. XV. 35, I remained in an oyster state, between asleep and awake. 1893Daily News 10 May 6/4 Lady F.'s dress was made of oyster brocade trimmed with old point. 1894Ibid. 11 May 6/5 The train was in brocade of an oyster-grey ground shot with mother-o'-pearl. 1901Westm. Gaz. 5 Sept. 6/3 Miss V. C. wore an oyster-satin skirt with swathed bodice. 1901Sketch 11 Sept. 303 Her wedding-dress of oyster-white satin. 1904Daily Chron. 5 May 8/4 Women are wearing bronze shoes with their golden-brown costumes,..oyster-coloured suede with a costume of that shade. 1920S. Lewis Main St. xi. 141 An oyster-coloured blouse. 1922Joyce Ulysses 114 Oyster eyes. 1931J. Cannan High Table xi. 168 The mother of the bride wore a handsome dress of oyster satin. 1938S. Beckett Murphy 117 Oyster kisses passed between them. 1951[see Gibson2]. 1952P. Atkey Juniper Rock i. 5 A short, pink man in oyster silk pyjamas. 1958L. Durrell Balthazar i. 13 Pearl ground with shadowed oyster and violet reflections. 1960Harper's Bazaar Apr. 84 A short narrow dress of delustred oyster satin. 1969[see Irish crochet s.v. Irish a. 2 c]. 1974N. Marsh Black as he's Painted i. 20 The glossy walls were an agreeable oyster-white. 1975G. Moffat Miss Pink iii. 48 Bridget wearing oyster lace over silk. 1976Southern Even. Echo (Southampton) 11 Nov. 9/1 The bride wore an oyster-coloured empire-line dress.
d. Special combinations: oyster-bank, a bank of oysters, an oyster-bed: see bank n.1 5; † oyster-barrel muff, a muff having the form of an oyster-barrel; oyster-bed, (a) a layer of oysters covering a tract of the bottom of the sea, a place where oysters breed or are bred: see bed n. 14 b; (b) a layer or stratum containing fossil oysters; oyster-bird = oyster-catcher; oyster-biscuit (see quot.); † oyster-board, a long narrow board or table of the kind used for displaying oysters for sale; applied contemptuously to the communion-tables introduced by the early Reformers and the Puritans; oyster-boat, a boat (in U.S. also a floating house built on a raft) used in the oyster-fishery or oyster cultivation; hence oyster-boatman; † oyster-bread (see quot.); oyster-brood, the spat of oysters in its second year; † oyster-callet = oyster-wench; oyster-cellar, a shop, orig. in a basement, where oysters are sold; oyster-crab, a small crab living as a commensal with an oyster, esp. Pinnotheres ostreum; oyster-farm, a tract of sea-bottom where oysters are bred artificially; hence oyster-farmer, oyster-farming; Oyster Feast, a traditional feast held at Colchester to mark the beginning of the oyster-fishing season; oyster-field = oyster-bed; oyster-fish, † (a) an oyster; (b) the toad-fish (Opsanus tau); (c) the tautog (Tautoga onitis); (d) (see quot. 1903); oyster fitting (see quot. 1940); oyster-green, a name of the seaweed Ulva lactuca, also U. latissima (broad-leaved o.); oyster-knife, a strong knife adapted for opening oysters; † oyster-lay = oyster-bed (a) (cf. laying vbl. n. 2 c); oyster-like a., resembling an oyster, esp. in sticking inside one's ‘shell’; oyster-man, a man engaged in taking, breeding, or selling oysters; oyster-meter, an officer appointed by the Court of the Fishmongers' Company to supervise the oyster industry; oyster-mushroom, an esculent fungus, Agaricus ostreatus; oyster-park, an oyster-bed or oyster-farm; oyster-piece, a piece of oyster veneer; oyster-plant, (a) the sea-lungwort (Mertensia maritima), so called from the oyster-like flavour of its leaves; (b) the salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius); Spanish oyster-plant, Scolymus hispanicus, the edible roots of which are used like salsify; oyster-plover = oyster-catcher; oyster-rake, a rake with a long handle and tines from six to twelve inches in length, usually well curved, used for gathering oysters in deep water; oyster-scale, the scale-insect Mytilaspis pomorum; † oyster-scalp, a scallop or bivalve mollusc of the oyster-family, or its shell; oyster-scow U.S., a scow engaged in oyster-fishing; oyster-seed, oyster spat; also, young oysters suitable for transplantation to artificial beds; † oyster-table, a table inlaid with mother-of-pearl; oyster-tongs, an instrument used for gathering oysters in shallow water, consisting of a jointed pair of hinged rakes with inward-bending teeth and long handles; oyster-tree, the mangrove; oyster-veneer, a whorled veneer obtained esp. from small boughs of trees; cf. oystering vbl. n. b; also oyster-veneered adj., oyster-veneering; oyster walnut (see quot. 1944); freq. attrib.; † oyster-wench, -wife, -woman, a girl or woman who sells oysters.
1612Proc. Virginia 102 in Capt. Smith's Wks. (Arb.) 168 Hee..forced them to the *oyster banks. 1831Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) IV. 284 The oyster banks produce the finest pearls in the world.
1703De Foe Reform. Manners Misc. 101 Knights of the Famous *Oyster-Barrel Muff.
1591Percivall Sp. Dict., Ostiario, an *oister bed. 1833Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 354 The strata of sand which immediately repose on the oyster-bed are quite destitute of organic remains.
1898Daily News 13 May 5/2 The ration..consists of..16 oz. of hard bread (called *oyster biscuits in the States).
1554in Latimer's Serm. & Rem. (Parker Soc.) II. 275 Weston. ‘In the same place he proveth a propitiatory sacrifice, and that upon an altar, and no *oyster-board’. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. i. (1871) I. 40 Tables which the Papists irreverently termed oyster boards.
1419Liber Albus (Rolls) I. 343 Item, de *oystrebot, quantum dabit. 1538Bale Thre Lawes 1344 He was sellynge of a Cod In an oyster bote a lyttle beyonde Quene hythe. 1813J. K. Paulding Lay of Scottish Fiddle i. 18 The sailors..urg'd in dreams the gallant chase Of oyster-boats far up the bay. 1891Scribner's Mag. X. 472, I will try to describe how the deck of an oyster-boat must be trimmed for its work.
1859G. A. Sala Twice round Clock 251 Listen to the slang of *oyster-boatmen and bargees.
1601Holland Pliny I. 556 *Oister-bread, so called for that it was good with oisters.
1827Act 7 & 8 Geo. IV, c. 29 §36 If any Person shall steal any Oysters or *Oyster Brood from any Oyster Bed.
1621R. Brathwait Nat. Embassie, etc. (1877) 302 *Oister-callet, slie Vpholster.
1830J. F. Watson Ann. Philadelphia 220 *Oyster Cellars..did not at first include gentlemen among their visiters. 1842Dickens Amer. Notes I. vi. 208 Lamps, marking the whereabouts of oyster-cellars. 1889R. Brydall Art in Scot. vi. 96 The then popular Oyster-cellars in Edinburgh.
1756P. Browne Jamaica (1779) 420 The *Oyster-Crab. This little species is generally found with the Mangrove oysters, in their shells. 1844J. E. DeKay Zool. N.Y. vi. 12 The P[innotheres] depressum of Say, is..the male, or we suppose the young, of the Common Oyster Crab. 1884J. A. Ryder in G. B. Goode Fisheries U.S.: Nat. Hist. Aquatic Animals I. x. 744 Some Oysters were dredged up by the crew which contained some Oyster-crabs. 1902H. L. Wilson Spenders 131 Now the oysters will be due—fine fat Buzzard's Bays—and oyster crabs. 1938L. Bemelmans Life Class i. iii. 49 All maîtres d'hôtel..are especially fond of little fried things..whitebait, oyster crabs, fried scallops. 1960C. M. Yonge Oysters vii. 118 An essentially parasitic crab which has been the cause of considerable damage.., especially in Delaware Bay, is the small Oyster Crab.
1940Sun (Baltimore) 18 Oct. 3 Chesapeake oysters, which are now raised on ‘*oyster farms’. 1975Times 24 Apr. 3/4 Their oyster farm is claimed to be the only one of its kind in Europe.
1946Nature 26 Oct. 587/1 Many of the newly settled spat perish in the first weeks of sedentary life, and in spite of all the care of the *oyster-farmers. 1953Sun (Baltimore) 5 Feb. 19/5 If private leasing of such beds were allowed, they could produce enough seed to supply oyster ‘farmers’ their all-important seed oysters. 1977Harpers & Queen Nov. 275/4 Fertilised eggs, which oyster farmers call..white, grey or black sick, depending on how ripe it is.
1943Sun (Baltimore) 5 Feb. 10/1 A system of ‘*oyster farming’ combining a free fishery with close State management. 1962D. Nichols Echinoderms iii. 35 In the early days of oyster-farming the fishermen would drag a dredge across the beds to collect the starfish. 1974Country Life 21 Nov. 1561/3 A high mercurial content in the water..prevents oyster farming.
1888E. L. Cutts Colchester xviii. 171 The annual feast on the election of the mayor is called the *Oyster Feast{ddd}people take it for granted that the feast derives its name from the bivalve for which the town is famous; but this origin of the name may be questioned. ‘Oyster feasts’ are common at the beginning of a new official reign in many places. 1924F. Muirhead England (ed. 2) 575 The opening of the oyster fishing is celebrated by an ‘Oyster Feast’ on Oct. 20th. 1934A. E. Housman Let. 15 Sept. (1971) 360 The chief ambition of my life has long been to be invited to the Colchester Oyster Feast. 1972R. Cobb Reactions to French Revolution 4 He had once dressed up as a Roman Emperor for the carnival at the time of the Oyster Feast.
1888Amer. Anthropologist I. No. 4. 297 The *oysterfield..would supply a bounteous repast.
1611Florio, Ostreca, any *oyster-fish. 1855S. F. Baird in Rep. Bd. Regents Smithsonian Inst. ix. 340 The toad-fish, or, as it is called at Beesley's point, the oyster-fish, on account of its frequenting the oyster beds, is one of the fisherman's pests. 1878Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. I. 374 Tautoga omitis [sic].—Oyster-fish. Rather common. 1884G. B. Goode Nat. Hist. Aquatic Anim. I. iii. 251 The toad-fish, Batrachus tau, called also on the coast of New Jersey and in some parts of the Southern States ‘Oyster-fish’, is one of the most repulsive looking fishes upon our coast. 1903T. H. Bean Fishes N.Y. 598 This [sc. Tautoga onitis] is better known in New York as the blackfish; farther south it is styled..Moll, Will George and oyster fish. Ibid. 656 Gobiosoma bosci... Naked Goby; Mud Creeper; Oysterfish. 1940Sun (Baltimore) 30 Apr. 6/3 The oyster fish, sometimes called ‘devil fish’ by local fishermen, has a big head and mouth with which it crushes oysters for food. 1962K. F. Lagler et al. Ichthyology xi. 361 In the oyster toad⁓fish (Opsanus tau)..blood sugar levels are raised upon intramuscular injection of corticosteroid compounds.
1892J. W. Urquhart Electric Ship-Lighting vii. 227 The *oyster fitting, without the guard, is much used for cabins. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 606/2 Oyster-fitting, a bulkhead fitting designed to emit light on both sides of the bulkhead or other partition upon which it is mounted.
1597Gerarde Herbal iii. clix. 1377 Lungwoort..groweth vpon rockes..especially among Oisters..; this Mosse they call *Oister greene. 1866Treas. Bot. 833/1 Oyster-green, a name commonly given to Ulva Lactuca from its bright-green tint, and its being frequently attached to the common oyster.
1694Motteux Rabelais iv. xxx. (1737) 124 Like an *Oyster-knife. a1841W. P. Hawes Sporting Scenes (1842) II. 120 Oyster-knives and blood become well acquainted. 1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 120/3 Place a stiff knife similar to an oyster knife between the rubber ring and flat metal top, and..it will easily come off. 1973Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 1 July 9/1 An oyster knife..is obviously patterned on the rapier.
1703Lond. Gaz. No. 3897/4 The *Oyster-Lays in the Hundred of Rochford, in the County of Essex.
1784R. Bage Barham Downs I. 229 How I acquired any *oyster-like disposition..I know no more than a coach-horse. 1937Daily Herald 16 Feb. 19/6, I have never known Mr. Rinder so definitely oyster-like as when I tackled him yesterday on the line he proposed to take in the broadcast. 1975Country Life 13 Sept. 1320/4 Its [sc. salsify's] stale fish flavour, described as oyster-like. a1976A. Christie Autobiogr. (1977) x. ii. 488 There was something oyster-like about Rosalind.
1552Huloet, *Oyster man,..ostrearius. 1753in E. Singleton Social N.Y. under Georges (1902) 350, I am informed that an oysterman..may clear eight or ten shillings a day. 1853O. S. Fowler Home for All (rev. ed.) 23 Those persons who would economize, have only to order those very shells which the oyster-man has to pay to have carted from his cellar. 1891W. K. Brooks Oyster 141 No particular set of oyster⁓men are to blame. 1955Times 31 Aug. 5/1 But the oystermen of Cornwall eat the succulent grade four oyster with greater relish than its bigger brother. 1974‘A. Garve’ File on Lester xxxix. 143, I talked first with some oystermen along the front here.
1780Chron. in Ann. Reg. 201/1 Tried and learnedly argued between the *oyster-meters of London and the proprietors of oyster-beds in the county of Essex.
1875Cooke Fungi iv. 86 The *oyster mushroom..included in almost every list and book on edible fungi.
1862Ansted Channel Isl. iv. xxii. (ed. 2) 509 About 250 men and women are employed in the *oyster parks in sorting, loading, and unloading oysters.
1925*Oyster piece [see oystering vbl. n. b]. 1960Times 9 Dec. 18/7 The beautiful ‘oyster-piece’ veneers and marquetry. 1973Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 16 Mar. 47/2 Laburnum wood which has a dark heart and a yellow sapring when cut across the grain produces highly decorative ‘oyster pieces’.
1821W. Cobbett Amer. Gardener iv. 257 Salsafy, called by some *oyster plant, is good in soups, or to eat like the parsnip. 1841Cultivator VIII. 114 Oyster Plant, or Salsify..after boiling soft, make gravy of flour, butter, etc. and add to them, and really they are rich substitutes for oysters. 1858Hogg Veg. Kingd. 542 Mertensia maritima is a native of the sandy sea-coasts of Scotland and the north of England, where it is called Oyster Plant. 1885E. P. Roe Nature's Serial Story xxvi. 186 Will your nose become retroussé if I ask you to aid me in planting parsnips, oyster-plant, carrots and..onions? 1938R. Gathorne-Hardy Wild Flowers in Brit. vi. 40 Another beautiful blue flower to be found on the coasts of Scotland and northern England is the uncommon Oyster Plant, Mertensia maritima,..which spreads its fat leaves and drooping blue flowers over the sea-shingle. 1960Oxf. Bk. Wild Flowers 170/1 Sea Lungwort or Oyster Plant (Mertensia maritima)..is a rare plant of stony sea-shores in the north. 1972Y. Lovelock Vegetable Bk. 201 The roots [of salsify] also are eaten.. and are said to taste like asparagus; others suppose them to taste like oysters, from which belief it gains its name vegetable oyster and oyster plant. 1976Billings (Montana) Gaz. 1 July 2-A/4 Ten percent vegetables and fruits: Beets, carrots, onion, oyster plant (salsify) rutabagas.
1705Providence Rec. (1894) VI. 247 *Oyster Rake 3 hammer and a hand Bill.
1900Field 7 July 45/2 The prevalence of *oyster scale on the gooseberries.
1552Huloet, *Oyster scalph, ostrifer.
1824Nantucket Inquirer 26 Jan. (Th.), He wore a hat of the new *oyster-scow cut. 1856Dollar Times (Cincinnati, Ohio) 11 Dec. 2/5 Our river boats are palaces of paint and gilding, but a leak from the bowsprit of an oyster-scow will sink one in fifteen minutes.
1610Althorp MS. in Simpkinson Washingtons (1860) App. p. ii, The Parlor. Impr. ij tables—a cup⁓bard..a round *oyster table.
1716Providence Rec. (1894) VI. 161 To Iron Teeth for *Oyster Tongs and Carpenters Adds 00–05–00. 1835J. J. Audubon Ornith. Biogr. III. 608 My host carried with him..a pair of oyster-tongs. 1949R. J. Sim Pages from Past Rural N.J. 74 In oyster tongs the pin is thirty-two inches or more above the heads.
1909G. O. Wheeler Old English Furnit. (ed. 2) iii. 115 Sections of small walnut branches were built in veneers,..resembling..oyster-shells, and..this particular work has come to be classed as ‘oyster veneer’. 1974Country Life 30 May 1538/1 The use of walnut oyster-veneers in England is common.
1914Eberlein & McClure Pract. Bk. Period Furnit. 86 When the cabinets were ‘*oyster’ veneered, inlaid with marqueterie or lacquered. 1976Country Life 27 May (Suppl.) 48d/1 (Advt.), A rare 17th century oyster-veneered walnut side table.
1916E. W. Gregory Furnit. Collector vi. 91 The well-known ‘*oyster’ veneering is also typical of the style.
1944C. Drepperd Primer of Amer. Antiques 241/2 *Oyster Walnut, the burl in walnut having oyster shapes and forms in it and obvious when cut on the bias. A fine veneer pattern. 1972Country Life 8 June (Suppl.) 51 A small William & Mary ‘oyster walnut’ chest of drawers.
1593Shakes. Rich. II, i. iv. 31 Off goes his bonnet to an *Oyster-wench. 1825Brockett N.C. Gloss. s.v., Ee-shee-ke-le-kaul-er-Oysteers, the famous cry of the elder oyster-wenches in Newcastle.
1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 113 On whom gape thine Oysters so wide, *oysterwife?
1597Gerarde Herbal iii. clix. 1377 The poore *Oisterwomen which carrie Oisters to sell vp and down. 1663Butler Hud. i. ii. 540 The Oyster-Women lock'd their Fish up, And trudg'd away to cry No Bishop.
Hence ˈoyster v., (a) intr., to fish for or gather oysters; (b) trans., to feed on oysters; with up; (c) intr., to shut up; be silent (slang); cf. clam v.4 2; so ˈoysterer, one who gathers or sells oysters; a boat employed in the oyster-fishery; See oystering vbl. n. Also (all more or less nonce-words) ˈoysterage, an oyster-bed; ˈoysterdom, the domain or realm of oysters; ˈoyster-ˌfull a., replete with oysters; ˈoysterhood, the condition of an oyster, habitual seclusion or reserve; oyˈsterian a., of or pertaining to oysters; ˈoysterish a., of the nature of or resembling an oyster (hence ˈoysterishness); ˈoysterize v., to make an oyster of, treat as an oyster; ˈoysterless a., having no oysters, devoid of oysters; ˈoysterling, a young or small oyster.
18..E. Ingersoll (Cent.), Many more are *oystering now than before the war. 1861T. Winthrop Cecil Dreeme 156 Boys, I've got a sick man to oyster up. 1896Voice (N.Y.) 13 Feb. 3/3 Being near the Gulf some would oyster and fish. 1973R. Parkes Guardians xii. 225 Once they got him down the station he oystered up proper. Not another word.
1866Morn. Star 4 Jan., The Saltash *oysterage will..be found a valuable acquisition by the company.
1865J. G. Bertram Harvest Sea xi. (1873) 242 The Ile de Re..in the Bay of Biscay..may now be designated the capital of French *oysterdom.
a1618Sylvester Tobacco Battered 267 Iakes-farmers, Fidlers, Ostlers, *Oysterers. 1828J. Banim Anglo-Irish II. 188 Be it in..merchantman, collier, oysterer, skiff, or open-boat.
1855Singleton Virgil I. 83 Pontus and *oyster-full Abydos' straits Are tempted.
1854Lowell Cambr. 30 Yrs. Ago Pr. Wks. 1890 I. 90 He came out of his *oysterhood at last.
1838New Monthly Mag. LIII. 545 We are now approaching the paradise of the *oysterian Adam and Eve..the locality of the first fossil occurrence of the ostrea leviuscula.
1834Beckford Italy I. iii. 31 A certain *oysterishness of eye and flabbiness of complexion.
1793Southey Let. in Life I. 196 Poor Southey will either be cooked for a Cherokee, or *oysterised by a tiger.
1865Sat. Rev. 2 Dec. 710/2 The awful vision of an *oysterless generation [may] be prevented from becoming a fact.
1867Times 15 Oct. 5/6 Not one of the young *oysterlings of the previous summer's spat was known to have been killed by the cold weather or frost. |