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pearl1

Syllabification: (pearl)
Pronunciation: /pərl/

Translate pearl | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of pearl

noun

  • 1a hard, lustrous spherical mass, typically white or bluish-gray, formed within the shell of a pearl oyster or other bivalve mollusk and highly prized as a gem.
  • an artificial imitation of this.
  • (pearls) a necklace of pearls.
  • something resembling a pearl in appearance:the sweat stood in pearls along his forehead
  • short for mother-of-pearl.
  • a very pale bluish gray or white like the color of a pearl.
  • 2a precious thing; the finest example of something:the nation’s media were assembled to hear his pearls of wisdom

verb

[no object]
  • 1 literary form pearllike drops:the juice on the blade pearled into droplets
  • [with object] make bluish-gray like a pearl:the peaked hills, blue and pearled with clouds
  • 2 (usually as noun pearling) dive or fish for pearl oysters.

Phrases

pearls before swine

valuable things offered or given to people who do not appreciate them.
[with biblical allusion to Matt. 7:6]

Derivatives

pearler

noun

Origin:

late Middle English: from Old French perle, perhaps based on Latin perna 'leg', extended to denote a leg-of-mutton-shaped bivalve

pearl in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of pearl in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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