a small, usually round object of glass, wood, stone, or the like with a hole through it, often strung with others of its kind in necklaces, rosaries, etc.

beads,

a necklace of beads

You don't have your beads on this evening.

a rosary.

Obsolete . devotions; prayers.

any small globular or cylindrical body.

a drop of liquid

beads of moisture.

a bubble rising through effervescent liquid.

Usually, beads. a mass of such bubbles on the surface of a liquid.

the front sight of a rifle or gun.

a reinforced area of a rubber tire terminating the sidewall and fitting within the rim of a wheel.

Electricity . a glass, ceramic, or plastic insulator that contains and supports the inner conductor in a coaxial cable.

Chemistry . a globule of borax or some other flux, supported on a platinum wire, in which a small amount of some substance is heated in a flame as a test for its constituents.

Metallurgy . the rounded mass of refined metal obtained by cupellation.

Architecture, Furniture . a small molding having a convex circular section and, usually, a continuous cylindrical surface; astragal.

Welding . a continuous deposit of fused metal, either straight (stringer bead) or zigzag (weave bead).

to form or cause to form beads or a bead on.

to ornament with beads.

Carpentry . to form a bead on (a piece).

to form beads; form in beads or drops

perspiration beading on his forehead.

count, say, or tell one's beads, to say one's prayers

using rosary beads

There were a few old women counting their beads in the hushed silence of the chapel.

draw or get a bead on

to take careful aim at

The marksman drew a bead on his target.

noun

bean , bubble , dab , dot , driblet , drop , globule , grain , particle , pea , pellet , pill , shot , speck , spherule , stone , bauble , chaplet , foam , prayer , rosary , sight , sparkle , trinket