pearling

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of pearl.

   By the third mile, sweat was pearling on his forehead.

   The seamstress spent the afternoon pearling the bodice of the wedding gown.

   Note

   Most uses split on whether there is an object: you pearl a bodice with beads or barley into rounded grains, but sweat and rain pearl on their own, gathering into drops. Surfers have a use of their own, always without an object: a board that keeps pearling has its nose digging into the water, and the usual result is a wipeout.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The activity of hunting for pearls.

   Her grandfather spent forty years in the pearling trade along the northern coast.

   The town grew rich on pearling, and its harbor still has the old divers' sheds.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The process of making grain into small, rounded grains shaped like pearls.

   The cooperative sends its barley out for pearling before selling it to soup makers.

   Each extra pearling leaves the grains a little smaller and rounder.

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