See Also: Bead(medicine)
bio-bead(medicine)
bead(1)(dictionary)
bead(2)(dictionary)
bead(encyclopedia)
bead(dictionary)
jumble-bead(dictionary)
glass bead steriliser(medicine)
Bead Lock - Motor Sports(gambling)

bead(1) (iou)



bead noun. [bi:d] OE.

sing. & (usu.) in pl. Prayer; devotions, latterly spec. using a rosary. arch. OE.
bid a bead, say one's beads offer a prayer.
Joyce Confession will be heard all the afternoon after beads.
Each of a string of small perforated balls forming the rosary or paternoster, used for keeping count of the prayers said. LME.
tell one's beads, count one's beads say one's prayers.
A small rounded perforated piece of glass, metal, wood, etc., used ornamentally, either threaded with others on string or wire or sewn on fabric; (in pl.) a necklace of such beads. LME.
a. A drop of liquid, or of molten metal etc. L16.
C. P. Snow In the warm evening, beads of sweat were standing out. R. P. Warren The leaves and the grass..were wet, and beads of water hung here and there, glistening in the clear light.
b. A bubble, esp. in sparkling wine, spirits, etc. M18.
c. A small knob forming the front sight of a gun. M19.
draw a bead on N. Amer. take aim at.
a. An ornamental moulding resembling a string of beads; an individual ornament in this. L18.
b. A narrow moulding of semicircular section. E19.
The thickened inner edge of a pneumatic tyre, gripping the rim of the wheel. E20.
Comb.: bead-folk arch. people who pray for a benefactor, almsfolk; bead-house a chapel; an almshouse; bead-plant a small creeping plant of the madder family, Nertera granatensis, of the southern hemisphere, bearing round orange fruits and sometimes grown for ornament; bead-rim a thickened, rounded rim; bead-roll a (long) list of names (orig. of persons to be prayed for); bead sedge the bur-reed, Sparganium erectum; bead-tree = AZEDARAC; bead-work (a) ornamental work with beads, beading; (b) open-mesh canework in furniture.
? See also BAILY'S BEADS.
beadily adverb in a beady manner M20.
beadiness noun beady quality L19.
beadlet noun a small bead; spec. a type of sea anemone: M19.
beadlike adjective resembling (that of) a bead M19.
beady adjective (a) beadlike, (of eyes) small, round, and glittering; (b) covered or decorated with beads: E19.