Pearl Definition

pûrl
pearls
noun
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.
Webster's New World
A bead resembling one of these masses.
American Heritage
Webster's New World
Mother-of-pearl; nacre.
American Heritage
Any person or thing regarded as like a pearl in some way, as in size, shape, color, beauty, value, etc.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
verb
pearls
To adorn or cover with pearls or pearl-like drops.
Webster's New World
To fish for pearl-bearing mollusks, esp. oysters.
Webster's New World
To make like a pearl in shape.
Webster's New World
Webster's New World
To form beads resembling pearls.
American Heritage
adjective
Of or having pearls.
Webster's New World
Like a pearl in shape or color.
Webster's New World
Made of mother-of-pearl.
Pearl buttons.
Webster's New World
pronoun
A female given name from the English noun pearl.
Wiktionary
idiom
cast pearls before swine
  • to present something of great interest or value to someone incapable of appreciating it
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Pearl

Noun

Singular:
pearl
Plural:
pearls

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Pearl

Origin of Pearl

  • Middle English perle from Old French from Latin pernula diminutive of perna ham, seashell (from the shape of the shell)

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Old French perle, from Medieval Latin perla. The surfing sense is from “pearl diving", it being imagined the surfer is diving down for pearls.

    From Wiktionary

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