essence d'orient

[es-uhns dawr-ee-uhnt, -ent, dohr-, e-sahnsdaw-ryahn]

noun

Jewelry.

1. a preparation for coating glass beads to make imitation pearls, derived from the scales of fish, especially of the bleak.

Word History and Origins

Origin of essence d'orient¹

< French: literally, essence of the Orient

Example Sentences

Muhafiz Ali, somewhat disappointed, produced a necklace of his finest false pearls, and the sahib examined it with the air of one who knew the difference between the nacreous sea-jewel and blown spheres of essence d' Orient.

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The fact is, it requires more than a thousand of these little fish to make an ounce of the 'essence d'Orient,' as the French call it, or essence of pearl.

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