Definition of "bead"

bead

/biːd/

noun
plural beads
1. (archaic) Prayer, later especially with a rosary.
  Quotations
  That he must believe in the Pope;—go to Mass;—cross himself;—tell his beads;—be a good Catholick, and that this, in all conscience, was enough to carry him to heaven.
  1760, Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Penguin, published 2003, page 115
2. Each in a string of small balls making up the rosary or paternoster.
3. A small, round object.
  1. A small, round object with a hole to allow it to be threaded on a cord or wire, particularly for decorative purposes.
  2. Various small, round solid objects.
    Quotations
    Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.
    2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200
  3. A small drop of water or other liquid.
  4. A bubble, in spirits.
  5. A small, round ball at the end of a barrel of a gun used for aiming.
    Quotations
    But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶ […] The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window […], and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, little dreaming that the deadly tube was levelled at them.
    1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […]
    (by extension) Knowledge sufficient to direct one's activities to a purpose.
4. A ridge, band, or molding.
  1. A rigid edge of a tire that mounts it on a wheel; tire bead.
  2. (architecture) A narrow molding with semicircular section.
5. (chemistry, dated) 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.
verb
third-person singular simple present beads, present participle beading, simple past and past participle beaded
1. (intransitive) To form into a bead.
2. (transitive) To apply beads to.
3. (transitive) To form into a bead.
4. (transitive) To cause beads to form on (something).
  Quotations
  Only the hum of the miserable creatures stirred the heavy murk that beaded our foreheads with sweat as we pushed our way through it.
  1941, Emily Carr, “Greenville”, in Klee Wyck