Definition of "pearl" []

• 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. (noun)
• Mother-of-pearl; nacre. (noun)
• One that is highly regarded for its beauty or value. (noun)
• Printing A type size measuring approximately five points. (noun)
• A yellowish white. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The Latin for a pearl and onion is _unio_, and the pun refers to Cleopatra giving her _pearl_ (or _onion_) to Antony in a draught of wine, or, as some say, drinking it herself in toasting her lover."
• "The phrase pearl clutching, which means being shocked by something once-salacious that should now be seen as commonplace"
• "Our little ocean pearl is in the way of some industrialist aliens, known as Vogons, building an intergalactic highway."