bead
[ beed ]
/ bid /
noun
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
to form beads; form in beads or drops: perspiration beading on his forehead.
Idioms for bead
count/say/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.
draw/get a bead on,
to take careful aim at: The marksman drew a bead on his target.
Origin of bead
before 900; Middle English
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), Old English
gebed prayer; akin to
bid1, German
Gebet
OTHER WORDS FROM bead
bead·like, adjectiveWords nearby bead
Example sentences from the Web for bead
British Dictionary definitions for bead
bead
/ (biːd) /
noun
verb
(tr)
to decorate with beads
to form into beads or drops
Derived forms of bead
beaded, adjectiveWord Origin for bead
Old English
bed prayer; related to Old High German
gibet prayer
Idioms and Phrases with bead
bead
see draw a bead on.