Pearl Harbor

alternative Pearl Harbour

1. A placename
   1. A deep water harbor in Oahu, Hawaii, United States in the Pacific.
   2. governmentA 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. alternativeAlternative form of Pearl Harbour.
2. historicalmetonymicallyThe attack on Pearl Harbor.

   Pearl Harbor happened in 1941 and was the direct cause of the United States' entry into World War II.

   1 more example

   “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

plural Pearl Harbors · alternative Pearl Harbour

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.

   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

   3 more examples

   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

   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

present singular third person Pearl Harbors · participle present Pearl Harboring · participle past Pearl Harbored · past Pearl Harbored · alternative Pearl Harbour

1. slangoften passive voiceTo 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

   1 more example

   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. oftenpassiverareslangTo 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

   1 more example

   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