adjective
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resembling a pearl, esp in lustre
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of the colour pearl; pale bluish-grey
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decorated with pearls or mother-of-pearl
noun
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a London costermonger who wears on ceremonial occasions a traditional dress of dark clothes covered with pearl buttons
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(plural) the clothes or the buttons themselves
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of pearly
First recorded in 1400–50, pearly is from the late Middle English word peerly. See pearl, -y 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The school’s new superintendent, Michael Borgschulte, an amiable lieutenant general with a Bronze Star and a pearly white set of teeth, steps onto the bandstand.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
“Look at me,” he jested, pulling off his cap to reveal sparse pearly fuzz.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2026
While many species can regenerate their teeth, human beings only get one chance at growing a healthy set of adult pearly whites.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2025
Even more provocatively, the authors propose those pearly bumps serve as control knobs, influencing how quickly and precisely the cell fires its signals.
From Science Magazine ● Dec. 2, 2024
Grant the dear boon of life to this most uncommon tiggy, lordly measter, and he shall sing to thee in numbers sweet or teach ’ee how to suck cow’s milk in the pearly dew.”
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
And what is most remembered about a performance to Tchaikovsky’s “Serenade for Strings” is “the transcendent scene of 17 women onstage, swathed in the palest and pearliest of blues.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 27, 2024
The world's shiniest, smoothest, pearliest eggs to impress your friends with.
From Salon ● Feb. 15, 2022
Finding the pearliest treasures at shorelines called for avoiding crocodiles, spiny urchins and “burning sea slime,” Claudia Swan, one of the essayists, points out.
From New York Times ● Sep. 2, 2021
Another man, who didn’t make a movie until he was 50, had the pearliest record of all.
From Time ● Jan. 9, 2014
Her voice was the pearliest, most musical, and yet most distant of things.
From Helbeck of Bannisdale — Volume I by Ward, Humphry, Mrs.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
