pearl Hear it!

pearl1 definition

pearl (pʉrl)

noun

  1. a smooth, hard, usually white or bluish-gray body of varied but usually roundish shape that is an abnormal nacreous growth within the shell of some oysters and certain other bivalve mollusks and forms around a grain of sand, a parasite, or some other foreign object: it is used as a gem
  2. mother-of-pearl
  3. any person or thing regarded as like a pearl in some way, as in size, shape, color, beauty, value, etc.
  4. the color of some pearls, a bluish gray

Etymology: ME perle < MFr < VL *perla, *perula, altered (? after L sphaerula, spherule) < L perna, a sea mussel, lit., a ham: from the shape of its peduncle

transitive verb

  1. to adorn or cover with pearls or pearl-like drops
  2. to make like a pearl in shape

intransitive verb

to fish for pearl-bearing mollusks, esp. oysters

adjective

  1. of or having pearls
  2. like a pearl in shape or color
  3. made of mother-of-pearl pearl buttons

Related Forms:

pearl Idioms

cast pearls before swine

Etymology: cf. Matt. 7:6

to present something of great interest or value to someone incapable of appreciating it
pearl2 definition

pearl (pʉrl)

transitive verb, intransitive verb, noun

Obsolete purl
Pearl1 definition

Pearl (pʉrl)

noun

a feminine name

Etymology: < pearl

Pearl2 definition

Pearl (pʉrl)

  1. Etymology: named for pearls found there

    river in central Miss., flowing south into the Gulf of Mexico: 490 mi (789 km)

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Graphite Pearl65 years ago

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