Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Resembling pearls.
- adjective Covered or decorated with pearls or mother-of-pearl.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Clothes with large pearl buttons, worn by costermongers.
- In the manner of a pearl; like a pearl.
- Resembling a pearl in size, shape, texture, or color; pearlaceous.
- Resembling mother-of-pearl; nacreous: margaritaceous.
- Producing, containing, or abounding in pearls; margaritiferous; pearl-bearing.
- Dotted, flecked, or spangled as if with pearls; pearled.
- Clear; pure; glittering; translucent or transparent, as a color: as, pearly white.
- In the technique of the pianoforte, noting a touch that produces a clear, round, sweet tone, or noting a tone thus characterized.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Containing pearls; abounding with, or yielding, pearls.
- adjective Resembling pearl or pearls; clear; pure; transparent; iridescent.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun uncountable, uncommon, dated A pale
greyish white colour, tinted withblue . - noun countable, UK, especially in plural
tooth - adjective Of a pale greyish white colour, tinted with blue.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective of a white the color of pearls
- noun informal terms for a human `tooth'
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word pearly.
Examples
-
He doesn’t take comfort in pearly gates and angels.
Everyman (copy) ____Maggie 2006
-
He doesn’t take comfort in pearly gates and angels.
Archive 2006-09-01 ____Maggie 2006
-
These same tribes term the pearly drops of dew which cover the beautiful leaves of the heliconia 'star spit.'
COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1 Alexander von Humboldt 1814
-
This is what we would describe as a well-circumscribed kind of pearly or waxy or shiny - looking bump that doesn't heal.
-
I allude to the phase of the aura which presents the "pearly" appearance of the opalescent body, which we have just noted.
The Human Aura Astral Colors and Thought Forms Swami Panchadasi
-
As it was my job to lean out and whisper into the sentry's "pearly," I got rather exasperated.
Fanny Goes to War Pat Beauchamp Washington
-
There was a peculiar sheen all about the irregular sky-line; a kind of pearly whitening, as it were, of the heavens beyond, like to the effect produced by the rising of a very delicate soft mist melting from a mountain's brow into the air.
The Frozen Pirate 1877
-
It had a singular kind of pearly look, and her long slender throat was almost of the same tone: no, not the same, for there was a transparency about her throat unlike that of the forehead.
Aylwin Theodore Watts-Dunton 1873
-
The name perlite (also spelled pearlite) comes from the French word perle which means pearl, in reference to the "pearly" luster of classic perlite.
-
Phillip's Voyage to Botany Bay, by permission of the Proprietor_] [Transcriber's note: names of painter and engraver are only guesswork.] [Illustration: AM I NOT A MAN AND A BROTHER] "To call the pearly drops from Pity's eye,
The Botanic Garden A Poem in Two Parts. Part 1: the Economy of Vegetation Erasmus Darwin 1766
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.