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8 dictionary results for: Bead
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
bead       [beed] Pronunciation Key
–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,
a.a necklace of beads: You don't have your beads on this evening.
b.a rosary.
c.Obsolete. devotions; prayers.
3.any small globular or cylindrical body.
4.a drop of liquid: beads of moisture.
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)
14.to form or cause to form beads or a bead on.
15.to ornament with beads.
16.Carpentry. to form a bead on (a piece).
–verb (used without object)
17.to form beads; form in beads or drops: perspiration beading on his forehead.
—Idioms
18.count, say, or 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.
19.draw or get a bead on, to take careful aim at: The marksman drew a bead on his target.
[Origin: bef. 900; ME 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), OE gebed prayer; akin to bid1, G Gebet]

—Related forms
beadlike, adjective

—Synonyms 4. droplet, globule, blob, dot.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
bead       (bēd)  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
    1. A small, often round piece of material, such as glass, plastic, or wood, that is pierced for stringing or threading.
    2. beads A necklace made of such pieces.
    3. beads Roman Catholic Church A rosary.
    4. Obsolete A prayer. Often used in the plural.
    5. A drop of moisture: beads of sweat.
    6. A bubble of gas in a liquid.
    7. A small metal knob on the muzzle of a firearm, such as a rifle, used for sighting.
    8. A decoration consisting of a usually continuous series of small spherical shapes, as on a convex molding.
    9. Beading.
  2. A small, round object, especially:
    1. A drop of moisture: beads of sweat.
    2. A bubble of gas in a liquid.
    3. A small metal knob on the muzzle of a firearm, such as a rifle, used for sighting.
    4. A decoration consisting of a usually continuous series of small spherical shapes, as on a convex molding.
    5. Beading.
  3. A strip of material, usually wood, with one molded edge placed flush against the inner part of a door or window frame.
  4. Architecture
    1. A decoration consisting of a usually continuous series of small spherical shapes, as on a convex molding.
    2. Beading.
  5. A projecting rim or lip, as on a pneumatic tire.
  6. A line of continuously applied ductile material, such as solder or caulking compound.
  7. Chemistry A globule of fused borax or other flux used in a bead test.

tr. & intr.v.   bead·ed, bead·ing, beads
To furnish with or collect into beads.


[Middle English bede, rosary bead, prayer, from Old English bed, bedu, gebed, prayer; see gwhedh- in Indo-European roots.]

(Download Now or Buy the Book)
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
bead 
1377, bede "prayer bead," from O.E. gebed "prayer," from P.Gmc. *beðan (cf. M.Du. bede, O.H.G. beta, Ger. bitte, Goth. bida). Shift in meaning came via beads threaded on a string to count prayers, and in phrases like to bid one's beads, to count one's beads. Ger. cognate Bitte is the usual word for conversational request "please." Also related to bid (O.E. biddan) and Goth. bidjan "to ask, pray." Sense transferred to "drop of liquid" 1596; to "small knob forming front sight of a gun" 1831 (Kentucky slang); hence draw a bead on "take aim at," 1841, U.S. colloquial.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
bead

noun
1. a small ball with a hole through the middle 
2. a shape that is spherical and small; "he studied the shapes of low-viscosity drops"; "beads of sweat on his forehead" [syn: drop] 
3. a beaded molding for edging or decorating furniture [syn: beading] 

verb
1. form into beads, as of water or sweat, for example 
2. decorate by sewing beads onto; "bead the wedding gown" 
3. string together like beads 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This

bead

see draw a bead on.


The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Bead

Bead\, n. [OE. bede prayer, prayer bead, AS. bed, gebed, prayer; akin to D. bede, G. bitte, AS. biddan, to ask, bid, G. bitten to ask, and perh. to Gr. ? to persuade, L. fidere to trust. Beads are used by the Roman Catholics to count their prayers, one bead being dropped down a string every time a prayer is said. Cf. Sp. cuenta bead, fr. contar to count. See Bid, in to bid beads, and Bide.]

1. A prayer. [Obs.]

2. A little perforated ball, to be strung on a thread, and worn for ornament; or used in a rosary for counting prayers, as by Roman Catholics and Mohammedans, whence the phrases to tell beads, to at one's beads, to bid beads, etc., meaning, to be at prayer.

3. Any small globular body; as, (a) A bubble in spirits. (b) A drop of sweat or other liquid. "Cold beads of midnight dew." --Wordsworth. (c) A small knob of metal on a firearm, used for taking aim (whence the expression to draw a bead, for, to take aim). (d) (Arch.) A small molding of rounded surface, the section being usually an arc of a circle. It may be continuous, or broken into short embossments. (e) (Chem.) 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; as, the borax bead; the iron bead, etc.

Bead and butt (Carp.), framing in which the panels are flush, having beads stuck or run upon the two edges. --Knight.

Beat mold, a species of fungus or mold, the stems of which consist of single cells loosely jointed together so as to resemble a string of beads. [Written also bead mould.]

Bead tool, a cutting tool, having an edge curved so as to make beads or beading.

Bead tree (Bot.), a tree of the genus Melia, the best known species of which (M. azedarach), has blue flowers which are very fragrant, and berries which are poisonous.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Bead

Bead\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Beaded; p. pr. & vb. n. Beading.] To ornament with beads or beading.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Bead

Bead\, v. i. To form beadlike bubbles.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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