noun
pearl oysters
• Syn: ↑family Pteriidae
• Hypernyms: ↑mollusk family
• Member Holonyms: ↑Bivalvia, ↑class Bivalvia, ↑Lamellibranchia, ↑class Lamellibranchia, ↑class Pelecypoda
• Member Meronyms: ↑Pinctada, ↑genus Pinctada
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\\təˈrīəˌdē, teˈr-\ noun pluralUsage: capitalized
: a family of bivalve mollusks (group Pectinaceae) most prominent in the Paleozoic and surviving chiefly in warm seas, including the pearl oysters, and having the right valve smaller and lower, the hinge line long and straight, the shell attached by a byssus, and the foot reduced
Useful english dictionary. 2012.