From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbeadbead /biːd/ ●○○ noun [countable] 1 DCJone of a set of small, usually round, pieces of glass, wood, plastic etc, that you can put on a string and wear as jewellery She wore a string of green glass beads around her neck.2 LIQUIDa small drop of liquid such as water or blood Beads of sweat trickled down his face.3 → draw a bead on somebody/something → worry beads
Examples from the Corpus
bead• Beads of moisture have formed on the inside of the window.• Beads can choke babies if swallowed, and long strings of beads can also half-strangle older children.• Mardi Gras goods can be purchases at the 707 W.. Main St. store, starting at $ 1 for beads.• In several instances hearths associated with workshop waste products were found, particularly for the production of glass beads and bronze jewellery.• Women in a riot of beads, bandannas and provocative bustles followed to centre nave.• Oxfam says it wasn't aware of a warning about the beads, issued seven months ago.• Captures may damage it and the beads of glue exposed to the air may lose some of their stickiness.Origin bead Old English bed, gebed “prayer”; because people counted beads while saying their prayers 