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, adjective

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, adjective

Word 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.