oyster

A food made from animal testicles, often those of a sheep or calf. A: "Let's get some mountain oysters!" B: "Are you sure? Did you read the description in menu?"

Two unlike things or people. Oh, you can't compare those two companies, they're apples and oranges! My mom and my mother-in-law are just apples and oranges and should not be left alone in the same room for too long.

Fig. two entities that are not similar. (Used especially in reference to comparisons of unlike things.) You can't talk about Fred and Ted in the same breath! They're like apples and oranges. Talking about her current book and her previous bestseller is like comparing apples and oranges.

Fig. One rules the world.; One is in charge of everything. I feel like the world is my oyster today. The world is my oyster! I'm in love!

you have the ability and the freedom to do exactly what you want The world is your oyster when you're young and healthy and free to go anywhere.

if two people or things are apples and oranges, they are completely different You can't compare inner city schools and schools in the suburbs - they're apples and oranges.

if the world is your oyster, you have the ability and the freedom to do anything or go anywhere You're young and healthy and you've got no commitments, so the world is your oyster.

Unlike objects or persons, as in Assessing the problems of the neighborhood grocery by examining a giant supermarket is comparing apples and oranges . This metaphor for dissimilarity began as apples and oysters, which appeared in John Ray's proverb collection of 1670. It is nearly always accompanied by a warning that one cannot compare such different categories.

Everything is going well, as in I was younger then, and the world was my oyster. In this term the oyster is something from which to extract great profit (a pearl). It was probably invented by Shakespeare in The Merry Wives of Windsor (2:2): "Why then, the world's mine oyster, which I with sword will open."

Anything you wish is yours for the taking. This piece of advice, usually given to youngsters, suggests that their future holds great riches, the way an oyster contains a pearl, and all they need do is use education, skill, or another talent to pry open the metaphorical bivalve and claim their reward. In Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, the character Pistol is heard to say, “Why then the world's mine oyster / Which I with sword will open.”