bead

[ beed ]

/ bid /

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See synonyms for: bead / beaded / beading / beads on Thesaurus.com

noun

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.

beads,

a necklace of beads: You don't have your beads on this evening.
a rosary.
Obsolete. devotions; prayers.

any small globular or cylindrical body.

a drop of liquid: beads of moisture.

a bubble rising through effervescent liquid.

Usually beads. a mass of such bubbles on the surface of a liquid.

the front sight of a rifle or gun.

a reinforced area of a rubber tire terminating the sidewall and fitting within the rim of a wheel.

Electricity. a glass, ceramic, or plastic insulator that contains and supports the inner conductor in a coaxial cable.

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.

Metallurgy. the rounded mass of refined metal obtained by cupellation.

Architecture, Furniture. a small molding having a convex circular section and, usually, a continuous cylindrical surface; astragal.

Welding. a continuous deposit of fused metal, either straight (stringer bead ) or zigzag (weave bead ).

verb (used with object)

to form or cause to form beads or a bead on.

to ornament with beads.

Carpentry. to form a bead on (a piece).

verb (used without object)

to form beads; form in beads or drops: perspiration beading on his forehead.

OTHER WORDS FOR bead

4 droplet, globule, blob, dot.

See synonyms for bead on Thesaurus.com

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Idioms about bead

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.

draw / get a bead on, to take careful aim at: The marksman drew a bead on his target.

Origin of bead

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 bid¹, German Gebet

OTHER WORDS FROM bead

beadlike, adjective

Words nearby bead

Beacon Hill, beacon school, Beaconsfield, beacon status, be a credit to, bead, bead and reel, beadblast, beaded, beaded hair, beaded lizard

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

How to use bead in a sentence

Each blanket is made from 100% cotton and contains non-toxic glass beads.
Best weighted blanket: Sleep like a baby with our comfy bedding picks|PopSci Commerce Team|February 12, 2021|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.
Someone Please Buy Me This Gorgeous Cocktail Set|Nick Mancall-Bitel|December 30, 2020|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 Elvis worms to the Milky Way’s edge, these science stories sparked joy in 2020|Erika Engelhaupt|December 17, 2020|Science News
They start their lives as ribbons of linear components, called amino acids, like beads on a string.
DeepMind’s AlphaFold Is Close to Solving One of Biology’s Greatest Challenges|Shelly Fan|December 15, 2020|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.
East Africa’s Healers Embrace Modern Medicine to Treat Depression|Charu Kasturi|December 8, 2020|Ozy
The wall directly opposite the entrance was covered in colorful glass and bead mosaics.
A Little Too Off the Beaten Path in Burma|Katya Cengel|June 2, 2014|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.
The American Prophet of Delusion: Robert Stone in Conversation|David Samuels|November 15, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The bead embroidery on the back of her coat said “Revolution.”
Ilya Yashin & Ksenia Sobchak, the Russian Opposition’s Romeo & Juliet|Anna Nemtsova|December 17, 2012|DAILY BEAST
It also takes years of training to be able to sew, embroider, bead, and otherwise embellish these clothes.
Chanel, Armani, and Givenchy Present Their Haute-Couture Collections in Paris|Robin Givhan|July 4, 2012|DAILY BEAST
In contrast, Hell on Wheels often has too much happening to get a bead on where the story is going.
‘Hell on Wheels’ Has Found Its Way|Allen Barra|January 6, 2012|DAILY BEAST
He seemed to have abandoned himself to a reverie, and to be seeing pleasing visions in the amber bead.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
When the doctor arrived in the country, Butifer drew a bead on him, in a corner of the forest.
Repertory Of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A -- Z|Anatole Cerfberr and Jules Franois Christophe
They are very timid, and will not look a stranger in the face, their bead-like eyes constantly shifting.
Man And His Ancestor|Charles Morris
Before he could draw a bead, the rabbit vanished behind a distant scrub oak.
Restricted Tool|Malcolm B. Morehart
This projects some inches from the side of the boat, and the effect of this small bead in throwing off seas is most remarkable.
Yachting Vol. 2|Various.

British Dictionary definitions for bead

bead

/ (biːd) /

noun

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

a small drop of moisturea bead of sweat

a small bubble in or on a liquid

a small metallic knob acting as the sight of a firearm

draw a bead on to aim a rifle or pistol at

Also called: astragal architect carpentry a small convex moulding having a semicircular cross section

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)

metallurgy a deposit of welding metal on the surface of a metal workpiece, often used to examine the structure of the weld zone

RC Church one of the beads of a rosary

count one's beads, say one's beads or tell one's beads to pray with a rosary

verb

(tr) to decorate with beads

to form into beads or drops

Derived forms of bead

beaded, adjective

Word Origin for bead

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with bead

bead

see draw a bead on.

bead

OTHER WORDS FOR bead

Idioms about bead

Origin of bead

OTHER WORDS FROM bead

Words nearby bead

Words related to bead

How to use bead in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for bead

Derived forms of bead

Word Origin for bead

Other Idioms and Phrases with bead