bead

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
bead/biːd/

▶noun

• 1 a small, rounded piece of glass, stone, plastic, etc., perforated and typically threaded in a string with others to make a necklace or rosary.

• 2 a drop of a liquid on a surface.

• 3 a small knob forming the foresight of a gun.

• 4 the reinforced inner edge of a tyre.

• 5 an ornamental plaster moulding resembling a string of beads or having a semicircular cross section.

▶verb

• 1 decorate or cover with beads.

• 2 form into a string like beads.

– phrases
draw (or get) a bead on informal, chiefly N. Amer. take aim at with a gun.

– derivatives
beaded adjective,
beading noun.

– origin OE gebed ‘prayer’, of Gmc origin; current senses derive from the use of a rosary (each bead representing a prayer).