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
   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 or say one's beads or tell 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

Difficult to draw a bead on the Buccaneers.

From Los Angeles Times

It was Trump who ended the night with a bead of sweat on his upper lip and the tetchy demeanor of someone whose antagonist had clearly burrowed under his skin.

From Los Angeles Times

She also stitched school bags and did bead and jewellery work.

From BBC

The burials had scanty grave goods—a bead and a dog paw—so it’s hard to connect them to any particular material culture.

From Science Magazine

The team's information engine consists of a tiny bead in a water bath that is held in place with an optical trap.

From Science Daily

Related Words

• dot
• pellet
• stone