Pearl

(pĕrl, 14), n. [A-S. pearl, pārl, D. paarl, parel, Icel. perla, Sw. pärla, Dan. & N. H. Ger. perle, O. H. Ger. perala, berala, Fr. perle, Pr., Sp., & It. perla, Pg. perola, perla, L. Lat. perla, perula, from Lat. as if pirula, diminutive of pirum, a pear, or from beryllus, beryl.]

1. A silvery or bluish white, hard, smooth, lustrous substance, usually roundish, found inside the shells of several species of mollusks, particularly the pearl oyster. Pearls consist of the carbonate of lime interstratified with animal membrane, and appear to be the result of a diseased secretion caused by the introduction of foreign particles.
2. Hence, something very precious; a jewel.
3. Something round and clear, as a drop of water or dew. [Poet.] “And those pearls of dew she wears.” Milton.
4. A white speck or film growing on the eye; the cataract. Ainsworth.
5. (Print.) A variety of printing-type, in size between agate and diamond.

☞ This line is printed in the kind of type called pearl. Artificial pearls, small globules of thin glass made to imitate the luster and appearance of pearls.