English Explanatory Dictionary

bead

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Prayer, later especially with a rosary.
  2. Each in a string of small balls making up the rosary or paternoster.
  3. A small, round object.
  4. A small, round object with a hole to allow it to be threaded on a cord or wire, particularly for decorative purposes.
  5. Various small, round solid objects.
  6. A small drop of water or other liquid.
  7. A bubble, in spirits.
  8. A small, round ball at the end of a barrel of a gun used for aiming.
  9. Knowledge sufficient to direct one's activities to a purpose.
  10. A ridge, band, or molding.
  11. A rigid edge of a tire that mounts it on a wheel; tire bead.
  12. A narrow molding with semicircular section.
verb
  1. To form into a bead.
  2. To apply beads to.
  3. To cause beads to form on (something).
name
  1. Acronym of Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment.

Pronunciation

/biːd/ En-us-bead.ogg

Word forms

bead beads beading beaded

Etymology

From Middle English bede (“a prayer”), also “a bead for counting prayers” in a peire of bedes (literally “a pair of beads”), from Old English bedu, bed, ġebed (“a request, entreaty, prayer”), from Proto-West Germanic *bedu, *bed, *gabed, from Proto-Germanic *bedō, *bedą. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Gebäd (“prayer”), Cimbrian gapéet (“prayer”), Dutch gebed and bede (“prayer”), German Gebet (“prayer”), Low German Gebett (“prayer”), Luxembourgish Gebiet (“prayer”), Vilamovian gybāt (“prayer”).

Synonyms

prayer bead beading

Derived words

adder bead anal beads angle bead Baily's beads beadboard bead breaker beaded lacewing beaded lizard beader beadery bead fern beadful beadless beadlet bead lightning beadlike bead lily beadmaker beadmaking bead maze bead proof bead-rattler beadroll bead seat beadsman bead tracer bead tree bead-tree beadwork beady bedeman bid beads borax bead test captive bead ring casing bead Cuddy's beads draw a bead on drop one's beads dzi bead fairy-beads Hail Mary bead immunobead iodobead jet bead jetbead jumbie bead lovebead love-bead love bead macrobead microbead multibead nanobead parting bead polybead pony bead prayer bead prayer beads read someone's beads seed bead

Translations

Southern Altai: мончок Chiricahua: yoo Lipan: yoo Plains Apache: zhoo Western Apache: yoo Western Apache: yoo’ Bulgarian: топче Chickasaw: oksop Chinese Mandarin: 珠子 Dutch: parel Dutch: korrel Esperanto: bido Finnish: helmi French: perle Galician: doa Galician: abelorio Galician: adramán German: Perle German: Korn Greek: χάντρα Gujarati: મણકો Hungarian: gyöngyszem Hungarian: üveggyöngy Hungarian: gyöngy Hungarian: szemcse Hungarian: golyócska Hungarian: klikker Hungarian: célgömb Hungarian: irányzék Italian: grano Italian: perlina Japanese: ビーズ Japanese: 南京玉 Kaitag: духа́р Korean: 구슬 Central Kurdish: مووروو Macedonian: монисто Macedonian: монистро Malay: manik Māori: pirepire Middle English: bede Navajo: yoo’ Persian: منجوق Persian: بلژی Plautdietsch: Krall Polish: koralik Polish: paciorek Portuguese: conta Portuguese: missanga Russian: бу́сина Slovak: korálka Slovak: perlička Slovak: muška Slovene: koralda Slovene: perla Spanish: cuenta Spanish: mullo Spanish: abalorio Spanish: rocalla Spanish: gargantilla Spanish: mostacilla Swahili: ushanga Swedish: pärla Thai: ลูกปัด Turkish: boncuk Ottoman Turkish: بونجق Ottoman Turkish: مهره
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