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Definition of pearl - 20 dictionary results
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pearl

1  [purl]
Use pearl in a Sentence
–noun
1. a smooth, rounded bead formed within the shells of certain mollusks and composed of the mineral aragonite or calcite in a matrix, deposited in concentric layers as a protective coating around an irritating foreign object: valued as a gem when lustrous and finely colored. Compare cultured pearl.
2. something resembling this, as various synthetic substances for use in costume jewelry.
3. something similar in form, luster, etc., as a dewdrop or a capsule of medicine.
4. something precious or choice; the finest example of anything: pearls of wisdom.
5. a very pale gray approaching white but commonly with a bluish tinge.
6. mother-of-pearl: a pearl-handled revolver.
7. Printing. a 5-point type.
8. Also called epithelial pearl. Pathology. a rounded mass of keratin occurring in certain carcinomas of the skin.
–verb (used with object)
9. to adorn or stud with or as with pearls.
10. to make like pearls, as in form or color.
–verb (used without object)
11. to dive, fish, or search for pearls.
12. to assume a pearllike form or appearance.
–adjective
13. resembling a pearl in form or color.
14. of or pertaining to pearls: pearl diving.
15. set with a pearl or pearls or covered or inlaid with pearls or mother-of-pearl: a pearl necklace.
16. having or reduced to small, rounded grains.
—Idiom
17. cast pearls before swine, to offer or give something of great value to those incapable of appreciating it: She read them Shakespeare but it was casting pearls before swine.
Origin:
1300–50; ME perle < MF < It or assumed VL *perla (> G Perle, OE pærl), for L *pernula (> Pg perola, perh. OS përula), dim. of L perna sea mussel

Related forms:
pearler, noun
pearlish, adjective
pearllike, adjective
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pearl

2  [purl]
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object), noun
purl 1 .

Pearl

  [purl]
–noun
1. a town in central Mississippi. 20,778.
2. a female given name.

purl

1  [purl]
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
1. to knit with a reverse stitch.
2. to finish with loops or a looped edging.
–noun
3. a basic stitch in knitting, the reverse of the knit, formed by pulling a loop of the working yarn back through an existing stitch and then slipping that stitch off the needle. Compare knit (def. 11).
4. one of a series of small loops along the edge of lace braid.
5. thread made of twisted gold or silver wire.
Also, pearl.

Origin:
1520–30; var. of obs. or dial. pirl to twist (threads, etc.) into a cord

Zhu Jiang

  [jy jyahng]
–noun Pinyin.
a river in SE China, in S Guangdong province, flowing E and S from Canton and forming an estuary near Hong Kong. ab. 110 mi. (177 km) long.
Also, Chu Kiang.
Also called Canton River, Pearl River.

Pearl River

 
–noun
1. a river flowing from central Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico. 485 mi. (780 km) long.
2. Zhu Jiang.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To pearl
pearl 1   (pûrl)   
n.  
  1. A smooth, lustrous, variously colored deposit, chiefly calcium carbonate, formed around a grain of sand or other foreign matter in the shells of certain mollusks and valued as a gem.
  2. Mother-of-pearl; nacre.
  3. One that is highly regarded for its beauty or value.
  4. Printing A type size measuring approximately five points.
  5. A yellowish white.
v.   pearled, pearl·ing, pearls

v.   tr.
  1. To decorate or cover with or as if with pearls.
  2. To make into the shape or color of pearls.
v.   intr.
  1. To dive or fish for pearls or pearl-bearing mollusks.
  2. To form beads resembling pearls.

[Middle English perle, from Old French, from Latin *pernula, diminutive of perna, ham, seashell (from the shape of the shell).]
pearl 2   (pûrl)   
v.   & n.
Variant of purl2.
purl 2 also pearl   (pûrl)   
v.   purled also pearled, purl·ing also pearl·ing, purls also pearls

v.   tr.
  1. To knit (yarn) with a purl stitch.
  2. To edge or finish (a handkerchief, for example) with lace or embroidery.
v.   intr.
  1. To do knitting with a purl stitch.
  2. To edge or finish with lace or embroidery.
n.  
  1. Abbr. p. Inversion of a knit stitch; purl stitch.
  2. A decorative edging of lace or embroidery.
  3. Gold or silver wire used in embroidery.

[Origin unknown.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Pearl

Pearl\, n. A fringe or border. [Obs.] -- v. t. To fringe; to border. [Obs.] See Purl.

Pearl stitch. See Purl stitch, under Purl.

Pearl

Pearl\, n. [OE. perle, F. perle, LL. perla, perula, probably fr. (assumed) L. pirulo, dim. of L. pirum a pear. See Pear, and cf. Purl to mantle.]

1. (Zo["o]l.) 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. Pearls which are round, or nearly round, and of fine luster, are highly esteemed as jewels, and compare in value with the precious stones.

2. Hence, figuratively, something resembling a pearl; something very precious.

I see thee compassed with thy kingdom's pearl. --Shak.

And those pearls of dew she wears. --Milton.

3. Nacre, or mother-of-pearl.

4. (Zo["o]l.) A fish allied to the turbot; the brill.

5. (Zo["o]l.) A light-colored tern.

6. (Zo["o]l.) 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.] --Milton.

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. [hand] This line is printed in the type called pearl.

Ground pearl. (Zo["o]l.) 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 (Zo["o]l.), any moth of the genus Margaritia; -- so called on account of its pearly color.

Pearl oyster (Zo["o]l.), 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.

Pearl

Pearl\, a. Of or pertaining to pearl or pearls; made of pearls, or of mother-of-pearl.

Pearl

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

Pearl\, v. i. 1. To resemble pearl or pearls.

2. To give or hunt for pearls; as, to go pearling.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : pearl
Spanish: perla,
German: die Perle; Perlen-…,
Japanese: 真珠
More Translations »

pearl 
1258, from O.Fr. perle (13c.), M.L. perla (1244), of unknown origin. Perhaps from V.L. *pernula, dim. of L. perna in Sicily, "pearl," earlier "sea-mussel," lit. "ham," so called for the shape of the mollusk shells. Another theory connects it with the root of pear, also somehow based on shape. The usual L. word for "pearl" was margarita. Pearl Harbor translates Hawaiian Wai Momi, lit. "pearl waters;" transf. sense of "effective sudden attack" is attested from 1942 (in ref. to Dec. 7, 1941).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: pearl
Pronunciation: 'p&rl
Function: noun
1 : PERLE
2 : one of the rounded concentric masses of squamous epithelial cells characteristic of certain tumors
3 : a miliary leproma of the iris
4 : arounded abnormal mass of enamel on a tooth
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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pearl (pûrl)
n.

  1. A small sphere of thin glass containing amyl nitrite or other volatile fluid, designed to be crushed, as in a handkerchief, so that its contents can be inhaled.
  2. Any of a number of small tough masses of mucus occurring in the sputum in asthma.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
pearl   (pûrl)  Pronunciation Key 
A smooth, slightly iridescent, white or grayish rounded growth inside the shells of some mollusks. Pearls form as a reaction to the presence of a foreign particle, and consist of thin layers of mother-of-pearl that are deposited around the particle. The pearls of oysters are often valued as gems.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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PEARL
1. A language for constructive mathematics developed by Constable at Cornell University in the 1980s.
2. Process and Experiment Automation Real-Time Language.
3. One of five pedagogical languages based on Markov algorithms, used in "Nonpareil, a Machine Level Machine Independent Language for the Study of Semantics", B. Higman, ULICS Intl Report No ICSI 170, U London (1968). Compare Brilliant, Diamond, Nonpareil, Ruby.
4. A multilevel language developed by Brian Randell ca 1970 and mentioned in "Machine Oriented Higher Level Languages", W. van der Poel, N-H 1974.
5. An obsolete term for Larry Wall's PERL programming language, which never fell into common usage other than in typographical errors. The missing 'a' remains as an atrophied remnant in the expansion "Practical Extraction and Report Language".
["Programming Perl", Larry Wall and Randal L. Schwartz, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. Sebastopol, CA. ISBN 0-93715-64-1].
(2000-08-16)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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Pearl

(Heb. gabish, Job 28:18; Gr. margarites, Matt. 7:6; 13:46; Rev. 21:21). The pearl oyster is found in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Its shell is the "mother of pearl," which is of great value for ornamental purposes (1 Tim. 2:9; Rev. 17:4). Each shell contains eight or ten pearls of various sizes.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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