ˈpearl-ˌoyster
A pearl-bearing bivalve mollusc of the family Aviculidæ; spec. Meleagrina margaritifera of the Indian seas.
| 1693 Sir T. P. Blount Nat. Hist. 169 The Pearl-Oysters are so very hard and tough,..that they always throw them away. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. viii. 219 The pearl oyster..was incapable of being eaten. 1863 C. R. Markham in Intell. Observ. IV. 422 The pearl oyster..is not in reality an oyster at all, but is more allied to a mussel; having, like the latter animal, a byssus, or cable by which it secures itself to the rocks. |