Bead

Pronunciation

• IPA: /biːd/
• Rhymes: -iːd

Origin

From Old English Ä¡ebed, from Proto-Germanic. Cognate with Dutch bede, German Gebet.

Full definition of bead

Noun

1. (archaic) Prayer, later especially with a rosary. from 9th c.
• 1760, Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Penguin 2003, p. 115:That he must believe in the Pope;—go to Mass;—cross himself;—tell his beads;—be a good Catholick, and that this, in all conscience, was enough to carry him to heaven.
2. Each in a string of small balls making up the rosary or paternoster. from 14th c.
3. A small round object.
1. A small round object with a hole to allow it to be threaded on a cord or wire. from 15th c.
2. A small round solid object.
• 2013, Charles T. Ambrose, Alzheimer’s Disease, Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.
3. A small drop of water or other liquid. from 16th c.
   beads of sweat
4. A bubble, in spirits.
5. A small round ball at the end of a barrel of a gun used for aiming.
   She drew a bead on the target and fired.
• 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher Chapter 1, But then I had the massive flintlock by me for protection. ¶...The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window …, and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, little dreaming that the deadly tube was levelled at them.
4. A ridge, band, or molding.
1. A rigid edge of a tire that mounts it on a wheel; tire bead. from 20th c.
5. A knowledge sufficient to direct one's activities to a purpose.
   We now have a bead on the main technical issues for the project.
6. (chemistry, dated) A glassy drop of molten flux, as borax or microcosmic salt, used as a solvent and color test for several mineral earths and oxides, as of iron, manganese, etc., before the blowpipe.
   the borax bead;   the iron bead, etc.
7. front sight of a gun

Derived terms

Verb

1. (intransitive) To form into a bead.The raindrops beaded on the car's waxed finish.
2. (transitive) To apply beads to.She spent the morning beading the gown.
3. (transitive) To form into a bead.He beaded some solder for the ends of the wire.

Anagrams

• abed, bade, baed