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blue point

blue point

7.8
A small oyster from the northeastern United States, especially Long Island, known for its strong fresh taste
  • noun
  • /blu pɔɪnt/
  • US
translation icon : blue point
  • There are more options than just a blue point oyster, which is the big slimy oyster that you think of when you think of oysters.

There are more options than just a blue point oyster, which is the big slimy oyster that you think of when you think of oysters.

Examples

  • The restaurant specializes in seafood, and their blue point oysters are the most popular choice among patrons.

  • Last night, I tasted delicious blue point oysters for the first time at a local seafood festival.

  • After hearing about the fresh catch, we ordered a dozen blue point oysters to share at the table.

Synonyms

bluepoint
vsblue point
  • US
1 8.3

An oyster from Long Island with a mild salty taste

is prized generally for its flavor rather than described as mild and briny

Surface Forms

blue point singular
blue points plural

Morphology

blue + point

This is the name of a specific oyster variety (a culinary/proper-name term) rather than a literal composition of 'blue' (color) + 'point' (tip/topic). A B1 learner who knows the constituent words would not be able to infer 'a small edible oyster', so the meaning is non-compositional and unpredictable from the parts.

Etymology

Blue point comes from the village called Blue Point on Long Island, where these oysters were first sold and became well known. So, blue point now means that particular 'oyster' from that area.