a small glass ball, made in imitation of pearl, and used in necklaces, &c.

in architecture, a round moulding, commonly made upon the edge of a piece of stuff, in the Corinthian and Roman orders, cut or carved in short embossments, like beads in necklaces.

BEAD-proof, among distillers, a fallacious way of determining the strength of spirits, from the continuance of the bubbles, or beads, raised by shaking a small quantity of them in a phial.

BEAD-roll, among papists, a list of such persons, for the rest of whose souls they are obliged to repeat a certain number of prayers, which they count by means of their beads.