cultured pearl noun

A pearl grown round a small foreign body deliberately introduced into an oyster's shell

culture medium noun

A nutritive substance on which laboratory cultures can be grown, eg gelatin, agar, etc

culture vulture noun (informal)

Someone who has an avid interest in the arts

pearl¹ /pûrl/

1. A typically round, milky-white concretion of nacre formed in certain species of oyster and other shellfish, around a foreign body or otherwise, prized as a gem
2. Nacre, mother-of-pearl
3. A paragon or prized example
4. A lustrous globule
5. A granule
6. A tubercle of an antler burr
7. Cataract of the eye
8. A five-point type (about 15 lines to the inch) (printing)

1. Made of or like pearl
2. Granulated
3. (of an electric light bulb) made from frosted, rather than clear, glass as a precaution against glare

1. To set or adorn with pearls or pearly drops
2. To make pearly
3. To make into small round grains

1. To take a rounded form
2. To become like pearls
3. To fish for pearls

pearled adjective

pearlˈer noun

A pearl-fisher or a pearl-fisher's boat

pearlescˈent adjective

Having a pearly sheen

pearlˈiness noun

pearlˈing noun and adjective

pearlˈized or pearlˈised adjective

Treated so as to give a pearly or lustrous surface

pearlˈy adjective

1. Like pearl, nacreous
2. Rich in pearls

1. (in pl) pearl buttons
2. (in pl) costermongers' clothes covered with pearl buttons
3. A costermonger, or a member of his family, wearing such clothes

pearl ash noun

Partly purified potassium carbonate

pearl barley see under barley¹

pearl button noun

A mother-of-pearl button

pearl disease noun

Bovine tuberculosis

pearl diver noun

Someone who dives for pearls

pearlˈ-essence noun

A silvery preparation from fish scales used in making artificial pearls

pearlˈ-eye noun

Cataract

pearlˈ-eyed adjective

pearlˈ-fisher noun

Someone who fishes for pearls

pearlˈ-fishery noun

pearlˈ-fishing noun

pearlˈ-grayˈ or pearlˈ-greyˈ noun

A pale grey (also adjective)

pearl millet noun

The bulrush millet or spiked millet (Pennisetum typhoideum), a grain much grown in India

pearl mussel noun

A freshwater mussel (Unio margaritifera) that yields pearls

pearl onion noun

A type of small onion often eaten pickled

pearl oyster noun

Any oyster that produces pearls, esp Avicula (or Meleagrina) margaritifera

pearlˈ-powˈder noun

A cosmetic of basic bismuth nitrate or of bismuth oxychloride

pearlˈ-sāˈgo noun

Sago in round granules

pearlˈ-shell noun

1. Mother-of-pearl
2. A pearly or pearl-bearing shell

pearlˈ-sheller noun

pearlˈ-shelling noun

pearlˈ-spar noun

A pearly-lustred pale dolomite

pearlˈ-stone noun

Perlite

pearlˈ-tapiōˈca noun

1. Tapioca granulated and graded according to its size
2. A potato-starch imitation

pearlˈ-white noun

1. Material made from fish scales, used in making artificial pearls
2. Basic nitrate of bismuth, used in medicine and as a cosmetic
3. Bismuth trichloride, used as a pigment
4. Lithopone
5. Calcium sulphate

pearlˈwort noun

A member of a genus (Sagina) of small plants related to chickweed

pearly gates plural noun

(from the Bible, Revelation 21) entrance to heaven

pearly king or (fem) pearly queen noun

A costermonger whose costume is considered the most splendidly decorated with pearl buttons

pearly nautilus see nautilus

pearly whites plural noun (informal)

The teeth

cultured pearl

A true pearl formed by artificial means, eg by planting a piece of mother-of-pearl wrapped in oyster epidermis in the body of an oyster

false, imitation or simulated pearl

An imitation pearl, eg a glass bulb coated with pearl essence