bead

Pronunciation: /biːd/

Translate bead | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish

Definition of bead

noun

1a small piece of glass, stone, or similar material that is threaded with others to make a necklace or rosary or sewn on to fabric: long strings of beads rosary beads she fastened the beads round my neck [as modifier]:a bead curtain

2a drop of a liquid on a surface:beads of sweat

3a small knob forming the foresight of a gun.

4the reinforced inner edge of a pneumatic tyre that grips the rim of the wheel.

5an ornamental plaster moulding resembling a string of beads or having a semicircular cross section.

verb

[with object]

1 (often as adjective beaded) decorate or cover with beads:a beaded evening bag
string (beads) together:seashells beaded into belts

2cover (a surface) with drops of moisture:his face was beaded with perspiration

Phrases

draw (or get) a bead on: chiefly North American take aim at with a gun: I drew a bead on the nape of his neck; fully understand or make sense of:it’s hard to draw a bead on the stock market these days
tell one's beads: use the beads of a rosary in counting prayers.

Origin:

Old English gebed 'prayer', of Germanic origin; related to Dutch bede and German Gebet, also to bid². Current senses derive from the use of a rosary, each bead representing a prayer

bead in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of bead in the US English dictionary

Subscriber login

Library card login

Other

bead

noun

verb

Phrases

draw (or get) a bead on

tell one's beads

Origin:

bead in other Oxford dictionaries

Nearby words

More results for bead

More words in this category

Word of the day

secretagogue