I. ˈbēd noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English bede prayer, prayer bead, from Old English bed, gebed prayer; akin to Old High German beta request, gibet prayer, Gothic bida prayer, Old English biddan to entreat, pray — more at bid
1.
a. obsolete : prayer , supplication — usually used in plural
b. beads plural : a series of prayers and devotional meditations made with the use of a rosary
saying his beads in solitude
2. : a small often round piece of stone, glass, shell, wood, metal, or other material that is pierced for threading on a string or wire
the beads of the necklace
beads for trade with the natives
children stringing beads
specifically : a bead of a rosary
3. beads plural
a. : rosary
beads blessed by the bishop
b. : a necklace of beads or pearls
4. : a drop like a bead or a small body shaped like a ball
letting the beads of lead pour as easily as sand — Kay Boyle
a. : a drop of sweat or blood
beads of pain broke out on her forehead — Ellen Glasgow
b. : a minute bubble formed in or on a beverage ; specifically : the bubbles that are formed on the surface of a distilled beverage when it is shaken and that by their number and duration may indicate proof and quality
this whiskey holds a good bead
c. : a small knob of metal on a firearm near the muzzle used for a front sight in aiming
to draw a bead on a target
: aim
to take a bead on a man
d. : a blob of weld metal or a continuous deposit of weld metal blobs
e. : the globule of precious metal obtained by the cupellation process in assaying
f. : a glassy drop of flux (as borax or microcosmic salt) used as a solvent and color test for several metallic oxides and salts (as of iron, manganese) that is formed by fusion in the loop of a usually platinum wire
g. : one of a series of tiny bosses or raised dots on a coin, token, medal, or plate
5. : a projecting rim, band, or molding:
a. : a small salient molding of rounded surface, continuous or broken, the section being usually an arc of a circle — compare astragal 1
b. : any of various pieces or members (as a parting strip) usually having a section somewhat like such a molding
c. : a similarly rounded or cordlike projecting band (as the exposed portion of the headband of a book or a projecting band round a metal box)
d. : one of the strips around the inner periphery of a pneumatic tire shaped often with external ridge or rounded fold for engaging the rim of a wheel
e. : a wood or metal strip embedded in the plaster at a salient corner of a wall and serving as a guide and support for the plaster
f. : an extended rounded rim or flange (as on a pot or kettle)
g. : a ledge below the finish on a glass jar or bottle to aid in removal of pry-off closure
h. : a groove or rounded elevation on the surface of a metal can, fiber drum, glass jar, or metal closure to improve appearance and to stiffen
i. : the outer edge of circled heading that fits into the croze of barrel staves
j. : a raised ridge on sheet metal
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1. : to trim, furnish, or adorn with beads or beading : cover with beads
2. : to string together like beads
row houses beaded together
3. : to cause beads to develop on
her face was flushed and rosy, beaded with small particles of rain — Thomas Wolfe
tears were beading Dorinda's lashes — Ellen Glasgow
4. : to form a bead on (as sheet metal)
intransitive verb
1. : to form into a bead : develop as beads
sweat beaded on his forehead — Hartley Howard
2. : to take aim
the major beaded too low