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To fringe; to border. [Obs.] See Purl. Pearl stitch. See Purl stitch, under Purl.

Having a pearly speck in the eye; afflicted with the cataract.

Resembling pearl or mother-of-pearl; pearly in quality or appearance.

A white amorphous or granular substance which consists principally of potassium carbonate, and has a strong alkaline reaction. It is obtained by lixiviating wood ashes, and evaporating the lye, and has been an important source of potassium compounds. It is used in making soap, glass, etc.

Any fish whose scales yield a pearl-like pigment used in manufacturing artificial pearls, as the bleak, and whitebait.

A kind of lace of silk or thread. [Scot.] Sir W. Scott.

A glassy volcanic rock of a grayish color and pearly luster, often having a spherulitic concretionary structure due to the curved cracks produced by contraction in cooling. See Illust. under Perlitic.

A name given to several species of Sagina, low and inconspicuous herbs of the Chickweed family.

Containing pearls; abounding with, or yielding, pearls; as, pearly shells. Milton.

To form like pearls; to decorate with, or as with, pearls; to impearl.

Spangled with ice. Mounting up in icy-pearled car. Milton.

To form into pearls, or into that which resembles pearls. [Poetic] Dewdrops which the sun Impearls on every leaf and every flower. Milton.

The hard pearly internal layer of several kinds of shells, esp. of pearl oysters, river mussels, and the abalone shells; nacre. See Pearl.

A univalve mollusk of the genus Haliotis. The shell is lined with mother-of-pearl, and used for ornamental purposes; the sea-ear. Several large species are found on the coast of California, clinging closely to the rocks.

A transparent or translucent variety of common feldspar, or orthoclase, which often shows pearly opalescent reflections; -- called by lapidaries moonstone.

A kind of type, larger than pearl and smaller than nonpareil; in England called ruby.

pean fish having scales of a peculiarly silvery color which are used in making artificial pearls.

Roundish pearl-colored specks or flakes in the mouth, on the lips, etc., terminating in white sloughs. They are commonly characteristic of thrush.

mineral relating to the zeolites, usually occurring in square prisms or octahedrons with pearly luster on the cleavage surface. It is a hydrous silicate of calcium and potassium.

A siliceous variety of calcite, or carbonate of lime, having a silvery-white, pearly luster, and a waving or curved lamellar structure.