Adjacent Words

vegetable oyster definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: Mediterranean biennial herb with long-stemmed heads of purple ray flowers and milky sap and long edible root; naturalized throughout United States [syn: salsify, oyster plant, vegetable oyster, Tragopogon porrifolius]
2: long white salsify [syn: oyster plant, vegetable oyster]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: circa 1818 salsify

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Oyster Oys"ter, n. [OF. oistre, F. hu[^i]tre, L. ostrea, ostreum, Gr. 'o`streon; prob. akin to 'ostre`on bone, the oyster being so named from its shell. Cf. Osseous, Ostracize.] 1. (Zo["o]l.) Any marine bivalve mollusk of the genus Ostrea. They are usually found adhering to rocks or other fixed objects in shallow water along the seacoasts, or in brackish water in the mouth of rivers. The common European oyster (Ostrea edulis), and the American oyster (Ostrea Virginiana), are the most important species. 2. A name popularly given to the delicate morsel contained in a small cavity of the bone on each side of the lower part of the back of a fowl. Fresh-water oyster (Zo["o]l.), any species of the genus Etheria, and allied genera, found in rivers of Africa and South America. They are irregular in form, and attach themselves to rocks like oysters, but they have a pearly interior, and are allied to the fresh-water mussels. Oyster bed, a breeding place for oysters; a place in a tidal river or other water on or near the seashore, where oysters are deposited to grow and fatten for market. See 1st Scalp, n. Oyster catcher (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of wading birds of the genus H[ae]matopus, which frequent seashores and feed upon shellfish. The European species (H. ostralegus), the common American species (H. palliatus), and the California, or black, oyster catcher (H. Bachmani) are the best known. Oyster crab (Zo["o]l.) a small crab (Pinnotheres ostreum) which lives as a commensal in the gill cavity of the oyster. Oyster dredge, a rake or small dragnet of bringing up oyster from the bottom of the sea. Oyster fish. (Zo["o]l.) (a) The tautog. (b) The toadfish. Oyster plant. (Bot.) (a) A plant of the genus Tragopogon (T. porrifolius), the root of which, when cooked, somewhat resembles the oyster in taste; salsify; -- called also vegetable oyster. (b) A plant found on the seacoast of Northern Europe, America and Asia (Mertensia maritima), the fresh leaves of which have a strong flavor of oysters. Oyster plover. (Zo["o]l.) Same as Oyster catcher, above. Oyster shell (Zo["o]l.), the shell of an oyster. Oyster wench, Oyster wife, Oyster women, a women who deals in oysters. Pearl oyster. (Zo["o]l.) See under Pearl. Thorny oyster (Zo["o]l.), any spiny marine shell of the genus Spondylus.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Vegetable Veg`e*ta*ble, a. [F. v['e]g['e]table growing, capable of growing, formerly also, as a noun, a vegetable, from L. vegetabilis enlivening, from vegetare to enliven, invigorate, quicken, vegetus enlivened, vigorous, active, vegere to quicken, arouse, to be lively, akin to vigere to be lively, to thrive, vigil watchful, awake, and probably to E. wake, v. See Vigil, Wake, v.] 1. Of or pertaining to plants; having the nature of, or produced by, plants; as, a vegetable nature; vegetable growths, juices, etc. Blooming ambrosial fruit Of vegetable gold. --Milton. 2. Consisting of, or comprising, plants; as, the vegetable kingdom. Vegetable alkali (Chem.), an alkaloid. Vegetable brimstone. (Bot.) See Vegetable sulphur, below. Vegetable butter (Bot.), a name of several kinds of concrete vegetable oil; as that produced by the Indian butter tree, the African shea tree, and the Pentadesma butyracea, a tree of the order Guttifer[ae], also African. Still another kind is pressed from the seeds of cocoa (Theobroma). Vegetable flannel, a textile material, manufactured in Germany from pine-needle wool, a down or fiber obtained from the leaves of the Pinus sylvestris. Vegetable ivory. See Ivory nut, under Ivory. Vegetable jelly. See Pectin. Vegetable kingdom. (Nat. Hist.) See the last Phrase, below. Vegetable leather. (a) (Bot.) A shrubby West Indian spurge (Euphorbia punicea), with leathery foliage and crimson bracts. (b) See Vegetable leather, under Leather. Vegetable marrow (Bot.), an egg-shaped gourd, commonly eight to ten inches long. It is noted for the very tender quality of its flesh, and is a favorite culinary vegetable in England. It has been said to be of Persian origin, but is now thought to have been derived from a form of the American pumpkin. Vegetable oyster (Bot.), the oyster plant. See under Oyster. Vegetable parchment, papyrine. Vegetable sheep (Bot.), a white woolly plant (Raoulia eximia) of New Zealand, which grows in the form of large fleecy cushions on the mountains. Vegetable silk, a cottonlike, fibrous material obtained from the coating of the seeds of a Brazilian tree (Chorisia speciosa). It us used for various purposes, as for stuffing, and the like, but is incapable of being spun on account of a want of cohesion among the fibers. Vegetable sponge. See 1st Loof. Vegetable sulphur, the fine highly inflammable spores of the club moss (Lycopodium clavatum); witch. Vegetable tallow, a substance resembling tallow, obtained from various plants; as, Chinese vegetable tallow, obtained from the seeds of the tallow tree. Indian vegetable tallow is a name sometimes given to piney tallow. Vegetable wax, a waxy excretion on the leaves or fruits of certain plants, as the bayberry.