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Pearl   /pərl/   Listen
noun
Pearl  n.  A fringe or border. (Obs.)
Pearl stitch. See Purl stitch, under Purl.



Pearl  n.  
1.
(Zool.) A shelly concretion, usually rounded, and having a brilliant luster, with varying tints, found in the mantle, or between the mantle and shell, of certain bivalve mollusks, especially in the pearl oysters and river mussels, and sometimes in certain univalves. It is usually due to a secretion of shelly substance around some irritating foreign particle. Its substance is the same as nacre, or mother-of-pearl. Note: Pearls which are round, or nearly round, and of fine luster, are highly esteemed as jewels, and at one time compared in value with the precious stones. Since development of cultured pearls, the relative value has diminished somewhat, though the best pearls are still expensive, and natural pearls even more so. Artificial pearls may be made of various materials, including material similar to that of natural pearls; these are less expensive than natural or cultured pearls. See cultured pearl, below.
2.
Hence, figuratively, something resembling a pearl; something very precious. "I see thee compassed with thy kingdom's pearl." "And those pearls of dew she wears."
3.
Nacre, or mother-of-pearl.
4.
(Zool.) A fish allied to the turbot; the brill.
5.
(Zool.) A light-colored tern.
6.
(Zool.) One of the circle of tubercles which form the bur on a deer's antler.
7.
A whitish speck or film on the eye. (Obs.)
8.
A capsule of gelatin or similar substance containing some liquid for medicinal application, as ether.
9.
(Print.) A size of type, between agate and diamond. This line is printed in the type called pearl.
Ground pearl. (Zool.) See under Ground.
Pearl barley, kernels of barley, ground so as to form small, round grains.
Pearl diver, one who dives for pearl oysters.
Pearl edge, an edge of small loops on the side of some kinds of ribbon; also, a narrow kind of thread edging to be sewed on lace.
Pearl eye, cataract. (R.)
Pearl gray, a very pale and delicate blue-gray color.
Pearl millet, Egyptian millet (Penicillaria spicata).
Pearl moss. See Carrageen.
Pearl moth (Zool.), any moth of the genus Margaritia; so called on account of its pearly color.
Pearl oyster (Zool.), any one of several species of large tropical marine bivalve mollusks of the genus Meleagrina, or Margaritifera, found in the East Indies (especially at Ceylon), in the Persian Gulf, on the coast of Australia, and on the Pacific coast of America. Called also pearl shell, and pearl mussel.
Pearl powder. See Pearl white, below.
Pearl sago, sago in the form of small pearly grains.
Pearl sinter (Min.), fiorite.
Pearl spar (Min.), a crystallized variety of dolomite, having a pearly luster.
Pearl white.
(a)
Basic bismuth nitrate, or bismuth subchloride; used chiefly as a cosmetic.
(b)
A variety of white lead blued with indigo or Berlin blue.
cultured pearl, a pearl grown by a pearl oyster into which a round pellet has been placed, to serve as the seed for more predictable growth of the pearl. The pellet is usually made from mother-of-pearl, and additional layers of nacre are deposited onto the seed by the oyster. Such pearls, being more easily obtained than natural pearls from wild oysters, are less expensive.



verb
Pearl  v. t.  
1.
To set or adorn with pearls, or with mother-of-pearl. Used also figuratively.
2.
To cause to resemble pearls; to make into small round grains; as, to pearl barley.



Pearl  v. t.  To fringe; to border. (Obs.) See Purl.



Pearl  v. i.  
1.
To resemble pearl or pearls.
2.
To dive or hunt for pearls; as, to go pearling.



adjective
Pearl  adj.  Of or pertaining to pearl or pearls; made of pearls, or of mother-of-pearl.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Pearl" Quotes from Famous Books



... the fat short cook with the pink cotton dress who wheezed and blew so when she had to climb the stairs. He remembered the rooms that would seem bare enough to him now, he supposed, but were then filled with exciting possibilities—a little round brown table, his mother's work-box with mother-of-pearl shells upon the cover, a stuffed bird with bright blue feathers under a glass case, a screen with coloured pictures of battles and horses and elephants casted upon it. He remembered the exact sound that the tinkling bell made ...
— The Captives • Hugh Walpole

... his pearl necklace and one of the antique rings, but I refused these with a look of horror. He sold the coins to the King, and informed us that his various excavations and researches had brought him in about one hundred thousand livres up to the ...
— The Memoirs of Madame de Montespan, Complete • Madame La Marquise De Montespan

... the board of solemn-visaged directors assembled in session to determine upon the fate of two motherless little children. "Indiwidoolism is nurtured in excloosion; the elimination of the extraneous is necessary for the dewelopment of indiwidoolism. I regard the human indiwidool as sacred. Like a pearl"—he pronounced it "poil"—"it can grow in beauty and symmetry and purity and polish only when nourished in seclusion. Indiwidoolism is a poil without price; and the natal mansion, gentlemen—if I may be permitted the simulcritude—is ...
— The Danger Mark • Robert W. Chambers

... over that advertisement fifty times to try 'n' see what to do 'n' yet the more I studied it the less faith I had in it somehow. The picture of the man who tended the trees was up on top 'n' little pictures of him made a kind of pearl frame around the whole, 'n' he was honest enough lookin', as far as I could judge, but—as I told Mr. Kimball—what was to guarantee us as he 'd stick to the same job steady, 'n' I certainly did n't have no longin' in me to buy a rubber tree in southeast Peru 'n' ...
— Susan Clegg and Her Neighbors' Affairs • Anne Warner

... nail, is a device, which Nash says is new come out of France: but it had probably a northern origin, for far northward it still exists. This new device consisted in this, that after a man, says Nash, hath turned up the bottom of the cup to drop it on his nail, and make a pearl with what is left, which if it shed, and cannot make it stand on, by reason there is too much, he must drink again ...
— Curiosities of Literature, Vol. II (of 3) - Edited, With Memoir And Notes, By His Son, The Earl Of Beaconsfield • Isaac D'Israeli


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