bead / bēd/ • n. 1. a small piece of glass, stone, or similar material, typically rounded and perforated for threading with others as a necklace or rosary or for sewing onto fabric. ∎  (beads) a necklace made of a string of beads. ∎  (beads) a rosary.2. something resembling a bead or a string of beads, in particular: ∎  a drop of a liquid on a surface: beads of sweat. ∎  a small knob forming the front sight of a gun. ∎  the reinforced inner edge of a pneumatic tire that grips the rim of the wheel.• v. [tr.] 1. [often as adj.] (beaded) decorate or cover with beads: a beaded evening bag. ∎  string (beads) together.2. (often be beaded) cover (a surface) with drops of moisture: his face was beaded with perspiration.

bead.
1. Convex moulding, often of semicircular section, also called astragal, baguet(te), half-round, or roundel. If ornamented, it is a chaplet. A bead-moulding is a bead that does not project, also called a reed if several occur together in parallel lines. Beading is enrichment consisting of a row of small balls resembling a string of beads, called beadwork, or pearling, common in Romanesque work, and revived in C18.

2. A prayer (referring to beads on a string as mnemonics for prayers), so a bead- or bede-house was a type of almshouse, the inmates of which were required to pray in an adjacent chapel or church for the founder's soul.

bead †prayer OE.; (pl.) rosary; ornamental perforated object XIV. OE. bedu (ME. bede partly aphetic from ibede, OE. ġebed) = OS. beda, OHG. beta (and gibet, G. gebet), Goth. bida; f. Gmc. *beð- BID.

bead originally meaning ‘prayer’, current senses derive from the use of a rosary, each bead representing a prayer. Beadsman is a historical term for a pensioner provided for by a benefactor.