pearlescent

English

Etymology

From pearl +‎ -escent. First attested in 1926.[1][2]

Pronunciation

Adjective

pearlescent (comparative more pearlescent, superlative most pearlescent)

  1. Pearl-like, either in color or luster.
    • 1932 December 24, Alice Payne Hackett, “Selling America”, in The Publishers’ Weekly: The American Booktrade Journal, volume 122, number 26, New York, N.Y.: R. R. Bowker Co., →OCLC, page 2309:
      Everyone who has the slightest chance of eve going on a honeymoon is a potential customer for “The Story of Bermuda” by Hudson Strode (Smith & Haas). With its beautiful photographs and pearlescent binding, this book makes Bermuda seem a delightful place before even a word of its pleasant text is read.
    • 1959 December 10, “Lead Association Budget Provides $¾-Million for Research”, in Alvin W. Knoerr, editor, E&MJ Metal and Mineral Markets, volume 30, number 50, New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 6:
      Successful continuous extrusion of a variety of lead alloys for power and communications cable sheathing has opened still other possibilities. There are new lead pigments, including those of the pearlescent type, low-firing porcelain enamels for aluminum, steel and other metals, and low-loss dielectric ceramics for electronics, all of which will be given attention, [Robert L.] Ziegfeld said.
    • 1983, “The Colourless colours”, in Helen Varley, editor, Colour, London: Marshall Editions Limited, →ISBN, page 182:
      In the silvery belly scales of the herring, deposits of minute, platelike crystals lie parallel to the scales’ surface, giving a pearly gleam to the grey fish. As long as 200 years ago, this pearlescent pigment was extracted from the fish and injected into beads to simulate pearls.
    • 2008, Alisa Golden, “Inks, Paints, and Other Media”, in Painted Paper: Techniques & Projects for Handmade Books & Cards, New York, N.Y.: Sterling Publishing Co., →ISBN, page 14:
      The pearlescent inks have bits of shimmery, light-reflective material in them that make them look glittery; these are all transparent.

Derived terms

References
  1. “pearlescent, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  2. “pearlescent”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
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