pearl |pərl| noun a 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 . • figurative a precious thing; the finest example of something : the nation's media were assembled to hear his pearls of wisdom. • a very pale bluish gray or white like the color of a pearl. verb [ intrans. ] 1 poetic/literary form pearllike drops : the juice on the blade pearled into droplets. • [ trans. ] make bluish-gray like a pearl : the peaked hills, blue and pearled with clouds. 2 [usu. as n. ] ( pearling) dive or fish for pearl oysters. PHRASES pearls before swine valuable things offered or given to people who do not appreciate them. [ORIGIN: 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 a city in central Mississippi, just east of Jackson; pop. 21,961.