Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, 11th Edition
BEAD
I. noun see: bid Date: before 12th century
1. prayer , a series of prayers and meditations made with a rosary, a small piece of material pierced for threading on a string or wire (as in a rosary),
3. plural rosary , a necklace of beads or pearls, a small ball-shaped body: as, a drop of sweat or blood, a bubble formed in or on a beverage, a small metal knob on a firearm used as a front sight, a blob or a line of weld metal, a projecting rim, band, or molding, a precise knowledge or understanding,
II. verb
Date: 1577
transitive verb to furnish, adorn, or cover with beads or beading, to string together like beads, intransitive verb to form into a bead, beader noun