noun a bubble in spirits.
2. bead ·noun any small globular body.
3. bead ·vi to form beadlike bubbles.
4. bead ·noun a prayer.
5. bead ·noun a drop of sweat or other liquid.
6. bead ·vt to ornament with beads or beading.
7. bead ·noun a small knob of metal on a firearm, used for taking aim (whence the expression to draw a bead, for, to take aim).
8. bead ·noun a small molding of rounded surface, the section being usually an arc of a circle. it may be continuous, or broken into short embossments.
9. bead ·noun 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.
10. bead ·noun 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.