What does "oystercatcher" mean?

Any of several black or pied coastal wading birds in the genus Haematopus that have a long red or orange bill and feed on shellfish.

What is a synonym for "oystercatcher"?

Common synonyms include: oyster catcher, sea pie, sea-magpie, sea-pie.

How do you pronounce "oystercatcher"?

Pronounced //ˈɔɪstəˌkæt͡ʃə//.

Oystercatcher

//ˈɔɪstəˌkæt͡ʃə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
Any of several black or pied coastal wading birds in the genus Haematopus that have a long red or orange bill and feed on shellfish.
"[T]he sea-swallows uttered their ringing "Tree, tree," and the oyster-catchers their mocking "Click, click!" which has caused so many an unsuccessful sportsman to smile."
2
black-and-white shorebird with stout legs and bill; feed on oysters etc. wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

oyster catcher sea pie sea-magpie sea-pie

Example

More examples

"[T]he sea-swallows uttered their ringing "Tree, tree," and the oyster-catchers their mocking "Click, click!" which has caused so many an unsuccessful sportsman to smile."

Etymology

From oyster + catcher.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.