eastern oyster

noun

variants or Eastern oyster

: a commercially important edible oyster (Crassostrea virginica) that occurs along the eastern coast of North America from Prince Edward Island to the Gulf of Mexico

Eastern oysters tend to be milder than those farmed from the West Coast, although their taste and texture vary with location.

—Francine Maroukian, Esquire, February 2007

Everywhere eastern oysters grow, from the salty Chincoteagues of Virginia's Eastern Shore to the Apalachicolas harvested in Big Bayou along Florida's Gulf Coast Panhandle, they take on a flavor unique to their habitat.

—Molly Murray, News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware), 18 July 2010

called also American oyster, Atlantic oyster, Virginia oyster

Word History

First Known Use

1871, in the meaning defined above

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