PEARLY (pearlier, pearliest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: pearlier    , pearliest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pearly mean? 

• PEARLY (noun)
  The noun PEARLY has 1 sense:

1. informal terms for a human 'tooth'

  Familiarity information: PEARLY used as a noun is very rare.

• PEARLY (adjective)
  The adjective PEARLY has 1 sense:

1. of a white the color of pearls

  Familiarity information: PEARLY used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PEARLY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Informal terms for a human 'tooth'

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

chopper; pearly

Hypernyms ("pearly" is a kind of...):

tooth (hard bonelike structures in the jaws of vertebrates; used for biting and chewing or for attack and defense)

Derivation:

pearly (of a white the color of pearls)

• PEARLY (adjective)

Comparative: pearlier   
Superlative: pearliest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of a white the color of pearls

Synonyms:

pearly; pearly-white

Similar:

achromatic; neutral (having no hue)

Derivation:

pearl (a shade of white the color of bleached bones)

pearly (informal terms for a human 'tooth')

 Context examples 

A lesion which is characterized by an irregularly nodular opalescent wall which has caused it to be termed a "pearly tumor".

(Central Nervous System Epidermoid Cyst, NCI Thesaurus)

When the first light of the rising moon touched the sail, illuminating the boat with pearly radiance, Ruth moved away from him.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Leaning over the battlements and looking far down, I surveyed the grounds laid out like a map: the bright and velvet lawn closely girdling the grey base of the mansion; the field, wide as a park, dotted with its ancient timber; the wood, dun and sere, divided by a path visibly overgrown, greener with moss than the trees were with foliage; the church at the gates, the road, the tranquil hills, all reposing in the autumn day's sun; the horizon bounded by a propitious sky, azure, marbled with pearly white.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)