English edit

 
Beads

Etymology edit

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 Dutch gebed and bede, German Gebet.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /biːd/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -iːd

Noun edit

bead (plural beads)

  1. (archaic) Prayer, later especially with a rosary. [from 9thc.]
  2. Each in a string of small balls making up the rosary or paternoster. [from 14thc.]
  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. [from 15thc.]
    2. Various small, round solid objects.
      • 2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200:
        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.
    3. A small drop of water or other liquid. [from 16thc.]
      beads of sweat
    4. A bubble, in spirits.
    5. A small, round ball at the end of a barrel of a gun used for aiming.
      She drew a bead on the target and fired.
      • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., [], →OCLC:
        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.
      1. (by extension) Knowledge sufficient to direct one's activities to a purpose.
        We now have a bead on the main technical issues for the project
  4. A ridge, band, or molding.
    1. A rigid edge of a tire that mounts it on a wheel; tire bead. [from 20thc.]
    2. (architecture) A narrow molding with semicircular section.
      Synonym: beading
  5. (physical 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.
    the borax bead;  the iron bead, etc.

Hyponyms edit

Derived terms edit

terms derived from bead (noun)

Translations edit

Verb edit

bead (third-person singular simple present beads, present participle beading, simple past and past participle beaded)

  1. (intransitive) To form into a bead.
    The raindrops beaded on the car's waxed finish.
  2. (transitive) To apply beads to.
    She spent the morning beading the gown.
  3. (transitive) To form into a bead.
    He beaded some solder for the ends of the wire.
  4. (transitive) To cause beads to form on (something).
    • 1941, Emily Carr, “Greenville”, in Klee Wyck:
      Only the hum of the miserable creatures stirred the heavy murk that beaded our foreheads with sweat as we pushed our way through it.

Anagrams edit

Hungarian edit

Etymology edit

be- +‎ ad

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): [ˈbɛɒd]
  • Hyphenation: be‧ad
  • Rhymes: -ɒd

Verb edit

bead

  1. (transitive) to hand in
    beadja a felmondásátto hand in one's notice
  2. (transitive) to give (medicine to someone)
  3. (transitive) to submit, to present (a request)
  4. (transitive) to file (a petition)

Conjugation edit

Derived terms edit

Expressions

Further reading edit

  • bead in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
  • bead in Ittzés, Nóra (ed.). A magyar nyelv nagyszótára (‘A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published A–ez as of 2024)

Irish edit

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

bead

  1. first-person singular future of
    Bead anseo nuair a thiocfaidh tú ar ais.
    I will be here when you come back.

Mutation edit

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
bead bhead mbead
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References edit

  1. ^ Sjoestedt, M. L. (1931) Phonétique d’un parler irlandais de Kerry (in French), Paris: Librairie Ernest Leroux, page 74

Old English edit

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

bēad

  1. first/third-person singular preterite indicative of bēodan