Pearl Harbor
UK/ˌpɜːl ˈhɑːbə/US/ˌpɝ˞l ˈhɑɹbɚ/
Pearl Harbor proper noun: a deep water harbor in Oahu, Hawaii, United States in the Pacific. Also the alternative form of Pearl Harbour.
Proper noun
Pearl Harbor
- A deep water harbor in Oahu, Hawaii, United States in the Pacific.
- 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
- 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!
- The attack on Pearl Harbor.
- Pearl Harbor happened in 1941 and was the direct cause of the United States' entry into World War II.
- “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
Noun
Pearl Harbor (plural Pearl Harbors)
- 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
- 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
- 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
Verb
Pearl Harbor (third-person singular simple present Pearl Harbors, present participle Pearl Harboring, simple past and past participle Pearl Harbored)
- 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
- To take rudely by surprise.
- 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
- 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
Also used as
Pearl Harbor is also the alternative form of Pearl Harbour.
Pearl Harbor meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Arabic and Persian
Pearl Harbor in Hindi
- a harbor on Oahu
- पर्ल हार्बर parl hārbar
Pearl Harbor in Marathi
- a harbor on Oahu
- पर्ल हार्बर parla hārbar
Pearl Harbor in Arabic
- a harbor on Oahu
- بِيرْل هَارْبَر birl harbar
Pearl Harbor in Persian
- a harbor on Oahu
- پرل هاربر perl hârbor
More languagesFewer languages
- Pearl Harbor in Thai
- ท่าเรือเพิร์ล tâa reua pern
- Pearl Harbor in Vietnamese
- Trân Châu Cảng
Forms of Pearl Harbor
| Proper noun | |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Pearl Harbour |
| Noun | |
| plural | Pearl Harbors |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | Pearl Harbors |
| present participle | Pearl Harboring |
| past participle | Pearl Harbored |
| past | Pearl Harbored |
Origin of Pearl Harbor
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.
Questions about Pearl Harbor
- What does Pearl Harbor mean?
- Pearl Harbor means a deep water harbor in Oahu, Hawaii, United States in the Pacific.
- What is Pearl Harbor in Hindi?
- Pearl Harbor in Hindi is पर्ल हार्बर (parl hārbar). See Pearl Harbor meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is Pearl Harbor?
- Pearl Harbor can be a proper noun, a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce Pearl Harbor?
- Pearl Harbor is pronounced /ˌpɝ˞l ˈhɑɹbɚ/ (US).
Words near Pearl Harbor in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Pearl Harbor (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-Pearl Harbor.ogg.
Cite this entry: “Pearl Harbor.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pearl_harbor. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.