mother of pearl
Also 6 moder perl, mother perle, 7–8 mother pearl(e.
[Cf. F. † mère perle pearl oyster (16th c. in Godef.), It., Sp. madreperla, G. perlenmutter (late MHG. perelmuoter), Du. parel-, paarlmoeder, -moer.]
1. a. A smooth shining iridescent substance forming the inner layer of some shells. = nacre 2.
| a 1510 Inv. York Minster in Raine Abps. of York (Rolls) III. 388 Unum pece de moder perl. 1552 Invent. Ch. Goods (Surtees No. 97) 86 An ymage of the birth of Our Lord, of mother of perle, sylver and gylt. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. vii. 30 Handle strong Of mother perle. 1698 Lond. Gaz. No. 3358/4 A large Cabinet Frame inlaid with Mother Pearle. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. viii. 218 They saw..great heaps of shells of fine mother of pearl scattered up and down. 1827 Gentl. Mag. XCVII. ii. 70 A screen, curiously wrought with mother-o'-pearl. c 1850 Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.) 724 Inlaid with mother-of-pearl and ebony. 1889 ‘J. S. Winter’ Mrs. Bob (1891) 4 The useful and highly-ornamental mother-o'-pearl. |
b. Used as an exclamation.
| 1632 Rowley New Wonder i. i, Mother a pearle woman, shew your husband the cause. |
2. A shell fish yielding mother of pearl.
= nacre 1.
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 255 The shell that is the mother of Pearle. Ibid. II. 451 Sundry sorts of other shell fish, and among them, those that..beare pearles, and therof be called Mother-pearls. 1658 tr. Porta's Nat. Magic ix. xii. 241 There are..shells, we call the Mothers of pearl. 1703 Petiver Musei Petiver. 81 The Sea-Ear, Mother of Pearl, and by some Normans or Norman Shell. 1864 Chamb. Encycl. VI. 588/2 Mother of pearl, the shells of the large bivalve mollusc Meleagrina margaritifera. |
| fig. 1593 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. 16 It is superexcellent wit, that is the mother pearle of precious Inuention. |
† 3. ?
= nacrite.
Obs.| 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 40 The bowels of the earth abound with..mother-of-pearl, and some other productions of the mineral kingdom. |
4. a. attrib., as in
mother-of-pearl oyster,
mother of pearl shell; with the sense ‘made of mother-of-pearl’, as in
mother-of-pearl button, etc.; also similative, as in
mother-of-pearl gloss,
mother of pearl-tint.
| 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XII. 610/1 The margaritiferus, or pearl-bearing mussel... This is the mater perlarum of Rumphius, or mother of pearl shell. 1799 Kirwan Geol. Ess. 229 The shells found in limestone strata are commonly entire; some preserve their internal mother of pearl gloss. 1802 Brookes' Gazetteer (ed. 12) s.v. Pelew Isl., The best knives are made of a piece of the large mother-of-pearl oyster. 1802 Wollaston in Phil. Trans. XCIII. 8 The..angles were taken with a mother-of-pearl micrometer. 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXV. 293 A blue jacket with mother-of-pearl buttons on it. 1849 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. (1883) II. 64 Button-hook with the mother-of-pearl handle. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 871 A peculiar white ‘mother-of-pearl’ tint. |
b. Comb.:
mother-of-pearl cloud Meteorol. [
tr. Norw. perlemorsky (H. Mohn 1893, in
Forh. i Vidensk.-Selsk. i Christiania 1)], a kind of iridescent cloud occurring above the tropopause which is sometimes seen in high latitudes after sunset;
cf. noctilucent cloud s.v. nocti-;
mother-of-pearl moth (see
quots. 1829, 1850);
mother-of-pearl work, a kind of embroidery in which pieces of mother-of-pearl are sewn on velvet or silk.
| 1932 Q. Jrnl. R. Meteorol. Soc. LVIII. 307 The remarkable stratosphere clouds which the late Professor Mohn called mother-of-pearl clouds again appeared over Scandinavia several times during the months of January and February this year. 1957 Ludlam & Scorer Cloud Study 69 Mother of pearl clouds are rare. They have been seen most often in Norway (but occasionally also in Scotland, Iceland and Alaska), and then only in the months between November and March. 1972 R. Scorer Clouds of World v. 74 Mother of pearl clouds are at altitudes between 19 and 30 km. where they may be brightly illuminated by the sun after sunset at the ground, and after the sun has ceased to illuminate the troposphere where most of the blue colour of the sky originates. |
| 1829 J. F. Stephens Catal. Insects II. 165 Margaritia verticalis..Mother of Pearl M. 1850 ― Catal. Lepidoptera 240 Botys verticalis. The Mother-of-Pearl. Ibid. 241 Botys perpendicularis. The Scarce Mother-of-Pearl. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 351 Mother-of-Pearl Work. |