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. to aim a rifle or pistol at

6. Also called: astragal. 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. to pray with a rosary

verb

1. (tr) to decorate with beads

2. to form into beads or drops

Other Word Forms

• beadlike adjective
• beaded 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.

see draw a bead on.

Example Sentences

“But this poll shows there are very few of them out there. Voters have a bead on this one.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"I'm bursting with confidence now... not a single bead of sweat."

Read more on BBC

The beads candle holder — available in a kaleidoscopic multi-color as well as in all-black — proves candle holders can be art in and of themselves.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Soon we were stringing letters together, bead by bead on little strands, to make words.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

A bead of blood down his arm didn’t concern him.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• dot 
• pellet 
• stone