bead

[ beed ]

noun

1. a small, usually round object of glass, wood, stone, or the like with a hole through it, often strung with others of its kind in necklaces, rosaries, etc.
2. beads,
   1. a necklace of beads:

      You don't have your beads on this evening.

   2. a rosary.
   3. Obsolete. devotions; prayers.
3. any small globular or cylindrical body.
4. a drop of liquid:

   beads of moisture.

   Synonyms: dot, blob, globule, droplet

5. a bubble rising through effervescent liquid.
6. Usually beads. a mass of such bubbles on the surface of a liquid.
7. the front sight of a rifle or gun.
8. a reinforced area of a rubber tire terminating the sidewall and fitting within the rim of a wheel.
9. Electricity. a glass, ceramic, or plastic insulator that contains and supports the inner conductor in a coaxial cable.
10. Chemistry. a globule of borax or some other flux, supported on a platinum wire, in which a small amount of some substance is heated in a flame as a test for its constituents.
11. Metallurgy. the rounded mass of refined metal obtained by cupellation.
12. Architecture, Furniture. a small molding having a convex circular section and, usually, a continuous cylindrical surface; astragal.
13. Welding. a continuous deposit of fused metal, either straight stringer bead or zigzag weave bead.

verb (used with object)

1. to form or cause to form beads or a bead on.
2. to ornament with beads.
3. Carpentry. to form a bead on (a piece).

verb (used without object)

1. to form beads; form in beads or drops:

   perspiration beading on his forehead.

bead

/ biːd /

noun

1. a small usually spherical piece of glass, wood, plastic, etc, with a hole through it by means of which it may be strung with others to form a necklace, etc
2. a small drop of moisture

   a bead of sweat

3. a small bubble in or on a liquid
4. a small metallic knob acting as the sight of a firearm
5. draw a bead on
   draw a bead on to aim a rifle or pistol at
6. Also calledastragal architect carpentry a small convex moulding having a semicircular cross section
7. chem a small solid globule made by fusing a powdered sample with borax or a similar flux on a platinum wire. The colour of the globule serves as a test for the presence of certain metals ( bead test )
8. metallurgy a deposit of welding metal on the surface of a metal workpiece, often used to examine the structure of the weld zone
9. RC Church one of the beads of a rosary
10. count one's beads
    count one's beadssay one's beadstell one's beads to pray with a rosary

verb

1. tr to decorate with beads
2. to form into beads or drops

Derived Forms

• ˈbeaded, adjective

Other Words From

• beadlike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of bead¹

before 900; Middle English bede prayer, prayer bead (where, on a rosary each bead symbolizes a prayer, the word for the notion symbolized was transferred to the designating object), Old English gebed prayer; akin to bid ¹, German Gebet

Word History and Origins

Origin of bead¹

Old English bed prayer; related to Old High German gibet prayer

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. count / say / tell one's beads, to say one's prayers, using rosary beads:

   There were a few old women counting their beads in the hushed silence of the chapel.

2. draw / get a bead on, to take careful aim at:

   The marksman drew a bead on his target.

More idioms and phrases containing bead

see draw a bead on .

Example Sentences

Each blanket is made from 100% cotton and contains non-toxic glass beads.

From Popular-Science

Pieces in the Wixarikas Collection are especially time consuming, requiring up to a week of work on just the colorful, detailed bead patterns.

From Eater

Now researchers have demonstrated the bizarre effect for the first time in the laboratory by cooling glass beads as a proxy for the more complex freezing process of water.

From Science News

They start their lives as ribbons of linear components, called amino acids, like beads on a string.

From Singularity Hub 

In his rustic office, a cow tail with bead embroidery and a fez hanging above it like a crown are displayed on one wall.

From Ozy

The wall directly opposite the entrance was covered in colorful glass and bead mosaics.

From The Daily Beast

You can turn it over 17 times in your head and not really get a clear bead on what all that craziness means.

From The Daily Beast

The bead embroidery on the back of her coat said “Revolution.”

From The Daily Beast

It also takes years of training to be able to sew, embroider, bead, and otherwise embellish these clothes.

From The Daily Beast

In contrast, Hell on Wheels often has too much happening to get a bead on where the story is going.

From The Daily Beast

He seemed to have abandoned himself to a reverie, and to be seeing pleasing visions in the amber bead.

From Project Gutenberg

When the doctor arrived in the country, Butifer drew a bead on him, in a corner of the forest.

From Project Gutenberg

They are very timid, and will not look a stranger in the face, their bead-like eyes constantly shifting.

From Project Gutenberg

Before he could draw a bead, the rabbit vanished behind a distant scrub oak.

From Project Gutenberg

This projects some inches from the side of the boat, and the effect of this small bead in throwing off seas is most remarkable.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• dot
• pellet
• stone