worry beads

American  

noun

(used with a plural verb)

1. a string of beads manipulated to relieve worry and tension.

---

worry beads British  

plural noun

1. a string of beads that when fingered or played with supposedly relieves nervous tension

---

Etymology

Origin of worry beads

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

He held a cloth mask in his hands, and he fiddled with the mask's strings, as if they were worry beads.

From BBC

And he fidgets more and more with the worry beads he carries all the time in this pandemic year.

From Los Angeles Times

Konstantinos Varelas twisted a string of blue komboloi — Greek worry beads — outside his family’s restaurant on Main Street in El Monte.

From Los Angeles Times

It is then that people reach for the worry beads.

From New York Times

The beauty of Cohen’s music, the power of his lyrics, the complexity of his character, the Greek worry beads he carried in his pocket even when he looked incredibly calm and composed – “Darling,” he would say, “I was born in a suit.”

From The Guardian