bead

noun \ ˈbēd \

Definition of bead

1 a obsolete :prayer —usually used in plural

b beads plural :a series of prayers and meditations made with a rosary

2 :a small piece of material pierced for threading on a string or wire (as in a rosary)

3 beads plural

a :rosary

b :a necklace of beads or pearls

4 :a small ball-shaped body: such as

a :a drop of sweat or blood

b :a bubble formed in or on a beverage

c :a small metal knob on a firearm used as a front sight

d :a blob or a line of weld metal

5 :a projecting rim, band, or molding

6 :a precise knowledge or understanding —used in such phrases as get a bead on

See bead defined for English-language learners

See bead defined for kids

Examples of bead in a Sentence

Beads of sweat began rolling down their faces.
squeeze a bead or two of glue onto the seam

Recent Examples of bead from the Web

Beads were given out to attendees at Saturday’s crowded Charlotte Pride Festival.

— lavendrick smith, charlotteobserver, "Annual Charlotte Pride festival draws thousands to uptown," 26 Aug. 2017
Fuse together these colorful beads to produce pixilated art.

— Cincinnati.com, "Column: Literacy at the Sharonville Library easy as ABC," 23 Aug. 2017
These droplets of light, which result from rays of sunlight streaming through valleys and craters on the moon, would come to be called Baily’s beads, for English astronomer Francis Baily, who also saw and described them 56 years later.

— rebecca boyle, The Atlantic, "America in the Shadows," 21 Aug. 2017
The eclipse will attract hardcore eclipse chasers who have been prepping for years and who know all the lingo about the diamond ring, the Baily’s beads, the First Contact and the Second Contact and the Third Contact, etc.

— joel achenbach, Washington Post, "In totality’s path, eclipse mania overshadows fears of Eclipsemageddon — for now," 19 Aug. 2017
A Gathering of the Tribes for a Human Be-in…Bring food to share, bring flowers, beads, costumes, feathers, cymbal flags.

— Longreads, "The Hippies Who Hated the Summer of Love," 7 Aug. 2017
No cranking, not even a click, which brought beads of concern to my brow.

— mark maynard, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Helping hands for DIY in the garage," 2 Aug. 2017
Thousands of jewelry-making items—clasps and beads and hooks and ribbons—will keep little ones busy for hours.

— marielle wakim, Los Angeles Magazine, "Best of LA: 92 of Our Favorite Things to Eat, Do, and Buy Right Now," 14 July 2017
A team led by the Hutch's Marie Bleakley and by Warren Shlomchik of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pennsylvania removes naïve T cells from grafts with a magnetic system that uses monoclonal antibodies bound to iron beads.

— jon cohen, Science | AAAS, "A stem cell transplant helped beat back a young doctor’s cancer. Now, it’s assaulting his body," 12 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bead.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

The beads you might wear around your neck once represented prayers. The Middle English word bede at first meant “a prayer.” People then, as now, often kept track of the number and order of a series of prayers with the help of a string of little balls. Because each of these balls stands for a prayer, the word bede came to be used for the balls themselves. Today this same word, now spelled bead, is used to refer to any small piece of material with a hole in it for threading on a string or wire.

Origin and Etymology of bead

Middle English bede prayer, prayer bead, from Old English bed, gebed prayer; akin to Old English biddan to entreat, pray — more at bid

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

See Words from the same year

bead Synonyms

Synonyms

drop, blob, driblet, drip, droplet, glob, globule

Related Words

gobbet; dewdrop, raindrop, tear, teardrop; spatter; dribble, trickle

bead

verb

Definition of bead

transitive verb

1 :to furnish, adorn, or cover with beads or beading

2 :to string together like beads

intransitive verb

:to form into a bead

—

beader

noun

Recent Examples of bead from the Web

Meditation tools, beading supplies, salt lamps, incense, and much more are also available at the shop.

— quoron walker, Courant Community, "Harvest Beads And Silver Dazzling Customers," 26 July 2017
If your cushions are older and have lost their repellent finish (water no longer beads up on the surface), consider applying a spray-on fabric protector to restore repellency.

— nancy a. herrick, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Properly cared for, outdoor cushions will last," 23 July 2017
Each look, no matter the character, may take as many as four craftspeople to bead, stitch and—if there’s meant to be wear and tear—break down.

— TIME.com, "Game of Thrones: How They Make the World’s Most Popular Show," 30 June 2017
And in the foreground, gorgeous creatures in very small bathing suits, frolicking in the surf, water beading seductively on supple flesh.

— david kamp, GQ, "It All Started Here: The Gay Legacy of GQ," 23 June 2017
The graceful, east-facing building has quickly become the campus home for the university’s 2,830 aboriginal students, drawn by regular cultural events, from beading sessions to Monday morning smudges, a spiritual cleansing of spirit and place.

— catherine porter, New York Times, "A College Built for Canadian Settlers Envisions an Indigenous Future," 19 June 2017
FacebookTwitterPinterest 1/17| An ice-blue silk gown with beading from Versace Courtesy of Kensington Palace/Richard Lea-Hair.

— vanity fair, Vanities, "Princess Diana’s Iconic Style," 23 Feb. 2017
After a year of work — two months of which were focused on beading through the days and nights — the dress was completed.

— lauren smith, House Beautiful, "This Lebanese Bride's Dress Is So Beautiful, It Has a Hashtag," 22 Sep. 2016
From cuffs and necklaces to bead and earring packs, the line is set to launch in-store and online July 12th.

— rachel epstein, Harper's BAZAAR, "Poppy Delevingne Stars in the Eddie Borgo X Target Lookbook," 22 June 2015

First Known Use of bead

1577

BEAD Defined for English Language Learners

bead

noun

Definition of bead for English Language Learners

: a small, usually round piece of glass, wood, stone, etc., that has a hole through its center and that is put on a string with other similar pieces and worn as jewelry or that is sewn onto clothing
: a small, round drop of liquid (such as water or blood)

BEAD Defined for Kids

bead

noun \ ˈbēd \

Definition of bead for Students

1 :a small piece of solid material with a hole through it by which it can be strung on a thread

2 :a small round drop of liquid

a bead of sweat

History for bead

In medieval English the word bede, from which our word bead descends, meant “a prayer.” Then, as now, people sometimes used strings of little balls to keep track of their prayers. Each little ball stood for a prayer. In time the word that meant “prayer” came to be used for the little balls themselves. Now any small object that can be strung on a string is called a bead.