pearl
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /pɜːl/
ipa: [pʰəːɫ]
ipa: /pɝl/
ipa: [pʰɚɫ]
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)l
homophone: purl
Forms: form: pearls
Etymology: From Middle English perle, from Old French perle of uncertain etymology. Probably via unattested Medieval Latin *pernula, from Latin perna (“haunch; a marine bivalve shaped like a leg of lamb”) but also derived from Medieval Latin perla, from Latin perula (“little bag”). Its typographic use follows the name given by Jean Jannon to the type used in his miniature editions of Vergil, Horace, & the New Testament in the 1620s, which were the smallest printed works to his time. Its surfing use derives from the supposed resemblance to pearl diving.
Senses: glosses: 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. Round lustrous pearls are used in jewellery.
glosses: 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. Round lustrous pearls are used in jewellery.
Nacre; mother-of-pearl.
examples: text: I see thee compassed with thy kingdom's pearl.
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene viii]:
text: Hugh helped himself to bacon. "My dear fellow, she can think what she likes so long as she continues to grill bacon like this. Your wife is a treasure, James—a pearl amongst women; and you can tell her so with my love."
ref: 1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, chapter 1, in Bulldog Drummond:
glosses: Something precious.
glosses: A capsule of gelatin or similar substance containing liquid for, e.g., medicinal application.
examples: text: Boast not of your eyes; it is feared you have Balaam's disease, a pearl in your eye, Mammon's prestriction.
ref: 1641, John Milton, Animadversions upon The Remonstrants Defence Against Smectymnuus, Section III:
glosses: A whitish speck or film on the eye.
glosses: A fish allied to the turbot; the brill.
glosses: A light-colored tern.
glosses: One of the circle of tubercles which form the bur on a deer's antler.
glosses: A fringe or border.
examples: text: clinical pearls
glosses: A valuable little nugget of information; especially, an aphorism or tip that is operationally useful for decision-making.
examples: text: My mouth and tongue finally find her pearl. Her clitoris.
ref: 2010, Richard Knight, Simple Fantasies Can Come True, page 10:
text: Teasing her pearl she shakes in my arms, rolling her eyes and throwing the pussy at me.
ref: 2012, Danie Baly, Born with a Curse: Secret Fantasies:
glosses: The clitoris.
glosses: Ellipsis of pearl tapioca.
examples: text: Errol. Pearl three Escutcheons Ruby. / Elgin. Topaz a Saltier and Chief Ruby, on a Canton Pearl a Lyon Rampant Saphyr, which last is their paternal Coat; and the Field Topaz, and Saltier, and Chief Ruby, was the Arms of King Robert the Bruce, they altering the Field from Pearl (as he bore it) to Topaz.
ref: 1720, Francis Nichols, Rudiments of Honour, page 296:
text: The Field is Ruby, on a Bend Topaz, three Martlets Diamond. The Armes of the most Noble and Puissant Lord, Edward Brabazon, Earl of Meath, and Baron of Atherdee in the Kingdom of Ireland. His Lordship's Atchievements are Quarterly of sixteen Coats. 1. Brabazon, as above. 2. Diamond, on a Chevron between three Pickaxes Pearl, as many Mullets Ruby, by the Name of Mosley. 3. Saphire, ten Bezants, 4, 3, 2, 1, by the Bisset. 4. Pearl, on a Bend Diamond, nine Annulets conjoined in three Links Topaz.
ref: 1726, John Guillim, The Banner Display'd; Or, an Abridgment of Guillim, page 504:
text: (1) Pearl, a Cross, Ruby, with the Effigies of our Saviour thereon, Topaz, born in Memory of one of the Family's fighting against the Turks.
ref: 1754, John Lodge, The Peerage of Ireland; Or, a Genealogical History of the ..., page 71:
topics: government
heraldry
hobbies
lifestyle
monarchy
nobility
politics
glosses: Argent, in blazoning by precious stones.
topics: media
printing
publishing
typography
glosses: The size of type between diamond and agate, standardized as 5-point.
examples: text: There is gold, and multitude of pearles: but a precious vessel the lips of knowledge.
ref: 1635, Douay Rheims Bible, Proverbs 20:15
glosses: A jewel or gem.
Synonyms: word: margarite
Derived terms: banded pearl
baroque pearl
bath pearl
bepearl
Blue Pearl of Morocco
cave pearl
coconut pearl
empearl
epithelial pearl
freshwater pearl mussel
impearl
keratin pearl
mother of pearl
mother-of-pearl cloud
Pearl
pearlaceous
pearl-ash
pearlash
pearl aura
pearl body
pearl-bordered fritillary
pearl bush
Pearl City
pearl-clutcher
pearl-clutching
pearl-clutchingly
pearl-clutchy
pearl-coated
pearlcore
pearl danio
pearldom
pearl edge
pearlescent
pearlesque
pearl eye
pearlfish
pearl grass
pearl grey
Pearl Harbor
pearl haricot bean
pearliculture
perliculture
pearlie
pearlin
pearlish
pearlite
pearlized
pearlless
pearllike
pearl moss
pearl mullet
pearl-necklace
pearlness
Pearl of Africa
pearl of great price
pearl of the Antilles
pearl powder
Pearl River
pearlscale
pearl shell
pearlside
pearl sinter
pearl spar
pearlstone
pearl sugar
pearl tapioca
pearl tea
pearlware
pearl wedding
pearl white
pearlwise
pearlwort
pearly
penile pearl
polish the pearl
sulphur pearl
sweet mother of pearl
tapioca pearl
Related terms: nacreous