Dictionary

Pearl Harbor en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio
• /ˌpɝ˞l ˈhɑɹbɚ/ (General-American)
• /ˌpɜːl ˈhɑːbə/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Calque of Hawaiian Wai Momi (“pearl water”). The extended senses allude to the surprise attack executed by the Imperial Japanese Navy on the harbor on December 7, 1941.

Meanings

1. A sneak attack, often using underhanded measures.
   • Most Americans wanted no more Pearl Harbors, but they now expected Germany to attempt one. 2002, Richard F. Hill, Hitler Attacks Pearl Harbor: Why the United States Declared War on Germany, page 85:
2. A seminal dramatic event that unites a community and arouses it into action against an enemy.
   • For all practical purposes, the United States is undergoing an electronic Pearl Harbor, and the target is one of the most crucial segments of our way of life: Information. 1991, Winn Schwartau, Terminal Compromise:
   • We certainly don’t want a GPS Pearl Harbor, but probably it’s gonna take a GPS Mogadishu to get people’s attention. 2012 July 6, Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, quoting Milton Clary, “Drone Hijacking? That’s Just the Start of GPS Troubles”, in Wired, archived from the original on 08 Feb 2013:
   • Still, instead of thinking in terms of the industry's repeated warnings of a "digital Pearl Harbor," McPherson said, "I think cyberwarfare will be far more subtle," in that "certain parts of the system won't work, or it will be that we can't trust information we're looking at." 2007 June 24, John Schwartz, quoting Danny McPherson, “Preparing for a digital Pearl Harbor”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 10 Jan 2021:
   • IDF says fighting is ongoing in south, saying it ‘could be a 9/11 and a Pearl Harbour wrapped into one’ as Supernova festival-goers describe attack[.] 2023 October 9, Ben Doherty, “Israel military says situation ‘dire’ in south as 260 bodies retrieved from festival”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 03 Nov 2023:

Forms

wikipedia: Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor en · PROPN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio
• /ˌpɝ˞l ˈhɑɹbɚ/ (General-American)
• /ˌpɜːl ˈhɑːbə/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Calque of Hawaiian Wai Momi (“pearl water”). The extended senses allude to the surprise attack executed by the Imperial Japanese Navy on the harbor on December 7, 1941.

Meanings

1. A placename ▸ A deep water harbor in Oahu, Hawaii, United States in the Pacific.
2. A placename ▸ A naval base in Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii, United States: a US Navy base
   • Bluto: What? Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! Otter: [to Boon] Germans? Boon: Forget it, he's rolling. 1978, Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney, Chris Miller, Animal House (motion picture), spoken by Bluto (John Belushi), Universal Pictures:
3. (alt-of, alternative) A placename ▸ Alternative form of Pearl Harbour.
   alt of Pearl Harbour
4. (historical, metonymically) The attack on Pearl Harbor.
   • “Casablanca” was completed in 1942, but it’s set in December, 1941, the time of Pearl Harbor. 2012 March 19, David Denby, “Everybody Comes to Rick’s: “Casablanca” on the Big Screen”, in The New Yorker, archived from the original on 10 Jul 2016:
   • Pearl Harbor happened in 1941 and was the direct cause of the United States' entry into World War II.

Forms

Translations (31)

ko 펄 하버 (a harbor on Oahu) · ru Пёрл-Ха́рбор (a harbor on Oahu) · cmn 珍珠港 (a harbor on Oahu) · sh Pearl Harbor (a harbor on Oahu) · ar بِيرْل هَارْبَر (a harbor on Oahu) · uk Перл-Ха́рбор (a harbor on Oahu) · he פרל הארבור (a harbor on Oahu) · vi Trân Châu Cảng (a harbor on Oahu) · de Pearl Harbor (a harbor on Oahu) · ja 真珠湾 (a harbor on Oahu) · ko 진주만 (a harbor on Oahu) · sh Перл Харбор (a harbor on Oahu) · sl Pearl Harbor (a harbor on Oahu) · bg Пърл Ха́рбър (a harbor on Oahu) · ja パールハーバー (a harbor on Oahu) · fi Pearl Harbor (a harbor on Oahu) · sh Perl Harbor (a harbor on Oahu) · haw Wai Momi (a harbor on Oahu) · fa پرل هاربر (a harbor on Oahu) · nl Pearl Harbor (a harbor on Oahu) · mr पर्ल हार्बर (a harbor on Oahu) · pt Pearl Harbor (a harbor on Oahu) · el Περλ Χάρμπορ (a harbor on Oahu) · pl Pearl Harbor (a harbor on Oahu) · is Perluhöfn (a harbor on Oahu) · ru Перл-Ха́рбор (a harbor on Oahu) · mk Перл Харбор (a harbor on Oahu) · th ท่าเรือเพิร์ล (a harbor on Oahu) · be Перл-Ха́рбар (a harbor on Oahu) · hi पर्ल हार्बर (a harbor on Oahu) · rue Перл Га́рбор (a harbor on Oahu)

wikipedia: Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio
• /ˌpɝ˞l ˈhɑɹbɚ/ (General-American)
• /ˌpɜːl ˈhɑːbə/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Calque of Hawaiian Wai Momi (“pearl water”). The extended senses allude to the surprise attack executed by the Imperial Japanese Navy on the harbor on December 7, 1941.

Meanings

1. (qualifier:often passive voice, slang) To attack by surprise; to subject to a sneak attack.
   • The first and second ships had been successfully Pearl Harbored. The third was not to be surprised. As we approached, she dropped her net and fled. We pursued. 2000, James P. Sterba, Earth Ethics: Introductory Readings on Animal Rights, page 345:
   • Pearl Harbor had seared itself into the American consciousness, but even at the times of greatest tension American Presidents never believed that they were about to be Pearl Harbored again. 2013, Heiner Timmermann, The Future a Memory: The Cold War and Intelligence, page 127:
2. (often, passive, rare, slang) To take rudely by surprise.
   • If I had quit two houses sooner than I did all would have been well but since I didn't, I got Pearl Harbored by some big kid dressed up in a Ben Cooper Howdy Doody plastic outfit and a goofily grinning mask […] 2015, Halloween Shrieks, →ISBN, page 107:
   • Of course, with the Soviets' launch of Sputnik, the Americans had been Pearl Harbored in space. 2001, Arthur C. Clarke, quoted in Stylistics: A Resource Book for Students (2004), page 143

Forms

Relateds

Pearl Harbour · Pearl

wikipedia: Pearl Harbor