Table of Contents
What does drawn a bead mean?
Take careful aim, as in The debater drew a bead on his opponent. This term, dating from about 1830, alludes to the bead on a revolver or rifle, that is, a small knob in the foresight. [ c.
What does it mean to bead someone?
To take careful verbal aim at a person. An Americanism dating from about 1830, the term comes from aiming a revolver or rifle, on which the “bead” was a small knob on the foresight. It was being used figuratively by about 1930.
Where did the word bead come from?
The word bead comes from an Old English word—gebed, or bede—which means prayer.
What does it mean to have your teeth set on edge?
set one’s teeth on edge. Irritate, annoy, make one cringe, as in That raucous laugh sets my teeth on edge. This expression alludes to the shuddering feeling evoked by a grating noise or similar irritation.
What is your bead?
By extension, to focus one’s attention on someone or something so as to deal with or attack him, her, or it.
Can’t get a bead on meaning?
Literally speaking, if you have a bead on someone, then your gun is aimed at them. Figuratively speaking, this means you know exactly where they are, or what they are doing. If you can’t get a bead on someone, you either don’t know where they are, or don’t understand their actions or intent.
What does a good bead mean?
To have a good bead on thus means, figuratively, to have a good, clear shot lined up. It suggests the people so described see the target clearly and have command of the situation. All that remains for them to do is pull the trigger.
Who invented the beads?
More complex glass beads, such as mosaic or ‘millefiori’ beads, were developed in Mesopotamia about 3,500 years ago. Further refined by the Syrians and Egyptians, these sophisticated beads were traded as far north as Scandinavia.
What does the word bead mean originally?
Originally, “beads” were not the little objects on the string, but the prayers being said. Bead in this sense is a cognate of German bitte, a word that is used to make a request. Someone praying with a rosary was said to be “telling his beads,” that is, counting his prayers.
What was the meaning of bead in Old English?
mid-14c., bede “prayer bead,” from Old English gebed “prayer,” with intensive or collective prefix *ge- + Proto-Germanic *bidam “entreaty” (source also of Middle Dutch bede, Old High German beta, German bitte, Gothic bida “prayer, request”), from PIE *bhedh- “to ask, pray,” perhaps from a root meaning “to press, urge,”.
What does eating sour grapes mean?
If you describe someone’s behavior or opinion as sour grapes, you mean that that person is angry because they have not gotten or achieved something that they wanted: I don’t think it’s such a great job – and that’s not just sour grapes because I didn’t get it. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases.4 days ago.
What does it mean to eat sour grapes?
and therefore sour, grapes.1 In any event, the proverb seems to be clear enough in. its intended meaning: one generation suffers the consequences of the mistakes and. offenses committed by the previous generation(s).
What does the fathers have eaten sour grapes mean?
God used Jeremiah the prophet to warn of God’s judgment against the Israelites or Jewish people. That’s what the proverb of the sour grapes is referring to in Jeremiah 31:29. God’s judgment for the sins of the fathers could extend to the fourth generation.
What does it mean to get a beat on someone?
(beat on someone) to hurt someone by hitting them a lot of times. According to the witness, the police ran up and started beating on him. Synonyms and related words.
What does have a beat on something mean?
To strike something repeatedly. Quit beating on the door, I’m coming! I’ve been beating on at that nail and still can’t get it to go into the wall.
What is zeroed in?
1 : to direct all of one’s attention to (someone or something) Scientists are hoping to zero in on a cure. 2 : to aim something (such as a gun or camera) directly at (someone or something) The gunner zeroed in on the target.
What is the bead in moonshine?
Bead – The bubbles that form on the surface of shaken whiskey and reflect the alcoholic content. Beading Oil – An oil dripped into low-quality whiskey by Prohibition-era moonshiners to make the alcohol bead like quality whiskey.
What is the bead art called?
Beadwork is the art or craft of attaching beads to one another by stringing them onto a thread or thin wire with a sewing or beading needle or sewing them to cloth.
What were beads originally made of?
The oldest-surviving synthetic materials used for beadmaking have generally been ceramics: pottery and glass. Beads were also made from ancient alloys such as bronze and brass, but as those were more vulnerable to oxidation they have generally been less well-preserved at archaeological sites.
What does telling her beads mean?
count / say / 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.
What is the adjective of bead?
covered in small drops of a liquid. beaded with sweat/perspiration/moisture etc: Her forehead was beaded with perspiration. Synonyms and related words.
What is the plural form of bead?
bead /ˈbiːd/ noun. plural beads. bead. /ˈbiːd/ plural beads.
Can bead be a verb?
bead used as a verb: To form into a bead. “The raindrops beaded on the car’s waxed finish.” To apply beads to. “She spent the morning beading the gown.”.
What is bead in physics?
Inertia, force, and motion come together as Sir Isaac Newton’s favorite beads pull themselves out of a container. All it takes is a slight tug and the string of beads literally pulls itself out of the container and onto the floor.
