beach-clam 
beach-clam (bech'klam), n. A pojiuliir narao 
of the MiK'tnt milidixximii. [Local, I'. S.] 
beach-comber (bech'k6"mer), n. 1. A long 
wave rolling in from the ocean, liartli-ll. 
[U. 8.] 2. A seafaring man, generally of 
vagrant and drunken habits, who idles about 
the wharves of seaports : used most t'ri-<|in-ntly 
in countries bordering on the Pacific ocean. 
This is u H]ic<-iiiifii n[ the life nf half of tin- Aini-i i.-an- 
unit Knglitih who are adrift alinik' thr cn:usts of tile I'a.-iti. 
ami iu islands, commonly called />i'iu-fi i-./m/-rv. 
It. II. hn'iM. Jr., IVti.iv til. Mast, ].. -JIM. 
beached (becht), />. . 1. Having a beach; 
bordered by a beach ; formed by or consisting 
of a beach. [Rare.] 
Timon hath made liU e\.T]a^tiiiK' niiinsi..n 
I pun til.; Ijfilftn-'t ver^e of the salt flood. 
*l:',l,-.,'r. .,f A., V. 2. 
2. Kuu on a beach ; stranded. 
beach-flea (bech'fle), n. A name of sundry 
small amphipod crustaceans. Also called smttt- 
luifijier, shore-jumper, and xmid-flm. 
beach-grass (bech'gras), . The sand-reed, 
Aniiiiii/ilii/ii iiniiiiliiiacea, a coarse grass with 
stout running root-stocks, growing on sandy 
benches and protecting them from the winds. 
beachman (bech'man), n. ; pi. bi'in-lnin n (-men). 
A person on the coast of Africa who acts as in- 
terpreter to ship-masters, and assists iu con- 
ducting the trade. Imp. Diet. 
beach-master (bech'mas"t6r), n. 1. Naut., a 
naval officer appointed to superintend the dis- 
embarkation of an attacking force. 2. A name 
used in some places for a male seal. 
beach-wagon (bech'wag"on), n. A light open 
wagon with two or more seats, used on beaches. 
beachyt (be'chi), a. [< beach + -y 1 .] Covered 
with beach or shingle ; pebbly; shingly. 
The beachy girdle of the ocean. Mak., 2 Hen. IV.,iii. 1. 
beacon (be'kon or -kn), n. [< ME. beken, bekene, 
< AS. bedcen, becen, been, a sign, signal-standard, 
= OS. bokan = OFries. bekcn, bdkcn = D. buak = 
LG. bake (> G. bake) = OHG. bouhhan, MHG. 
bouchen = Icel. bakn (after AS.), a sign. Hence 
beckon and fiecfc 2 .] 1. A guiding or warning 
signal; anything fixed or set up as a token; 
especially, a signal-fire, either in a cresset 
and placed on a pole, or lighted on a tower or 
an eminence. Such beacons were formerly much used 
ti. signal the approach of an enemy or to spread a call or 
warning for any purpose, a chain of them often conveying 
intelligence to great distances. 
Modest doubt is call'd 
The beacon of the wise. Shak., 1. and C., II. 2. 
Uncertain, troubled, earnest wonderers beheld his intel- 
lectual lire as a beacon burning on a hill-top. 
Hawthorne, Old Manse, I. 
2. A tower or hill formerly used for such pur- 
poses. Various hills in England and the older parts of 
the United States have the name of Beacon, from the fact 
that signal-fires were formerly lighted on them. 
3. A lighthouse or other object placed conspic- 
uously on a coast, or over a rock or shoal at 
sea, to give notice of danger, or for the guid- 
ance of vessels. 4. A painted staff about 9 
feet long, carrying a small square flag at the 
top, used in camps to indicate an angle of the 
quarters assigned to a regiment or company. 
5f. In England, formerly, a division of a 
wapentake; probably a district throughout 
which a beacon could be seen, or which was 
bound to furnish one. N, E. D. 
beacon (be'kon or -kn), v. [< beacon, n. Cf. 
beckon.] I. trans. 1. To illumine or light up 
as a beacon. 
That beacons the darkness of heaven. 
Campbell, Lochiel's Warning. 
2. To afford light or aid to ; lead ; guide as a 
beacon. 3. To furnish or mark with beacons : 
as, to beacon a coast or a boundary : sometimes 
with off. 4f. To use as a beacon; make a bea- 
con of! 
N"", if other things as great in the Church and in the 
rule of life both economicall and political! be not lookt 
intii and refunu'd, we have lookt so long upon the blaze 
that Zwinglius and Calvin hath beacon'tt up to us, that we 
are stark blind. Miltim, AreopiiKitica, p. 44. 
485 
II. intranx. To servo or shine as a beacon. 
Tht' 8011) uf Admmis, like a sUir, 
lleacons from the abode where the Kternal are. 
N/..7/. !/, Adoiiali, Iv. 
Where tin- lii,'hth'.i: i-riKht 
Far in the bay. M. ,\nuil,l, A Southern Night. 
beaconage (bu'kon-iij 1 , . [< beaain + -".</'] 
Money paid for the maintenance of beacons, 
beacon-blaze (be'kon-blaz), . A signal-light 
of -tire. Tr-titn/xim. 
beaconed (be'kond), a. Having a beacon. 
Thf fuss that skirts the lirnninfil hill. 
T. W'lrl'ni. (lilrs, x. 
beacon-fire (be'kon-fir), n A fire lighted up as 
a beacon or signal ; a signal-fire. 
beacon-tower (be'kon-tou''6r), . A tower on 
which a beacon is raised. 
AiVrtcon-f""-'-'- at.. >u- tlie waves. Tennyson, Prim-ess, iv. 
bead (bed), . [< ME. bedc, a prayer, also (in 
in in- nf hnli-x, a pair of beads) a bead used in 
counting prayers, < AS. bedu (rare, and the 
IIOIM. is not found), in comp. bed- (= OS. beda 
= OFries. bede = D. bede = OHG. beta, MHG. 
bete, G. bitte = Goth, bida), fern, (also gebal 
= OS. <jibcd = OHG. gabet, MHG. G. gcbet, 
neut.), a prayer, < biddan, etc., pray: see bill. 
Beads are used by Roman Catholics to keep 
them right as to the number of their prayers, 
one bead of the rosary being dropped every 
time a prayer is said ; hence the transference 
of the name from that which is counted (the 
prayers) to that which is used to count with. 
Cf. Sp. cuentas, Pg. cantos, the beads of a 
rosary, < Sp. Pg. contar, count.] If. Prayer; a 
prayer; specifically, a prayer of the list or 
bead-roll, read at public church-services by the 
preacher before his sermon, or by the curate 
(see bead-roll) : usually in the plural. Hence, in 
this sense, to bid (one's) beads, to say (one's) prayers. See 
phrases below. 
When holy and devout religious men 
Are at their beads, 'tis much to draw them thence ; 
So sweet is zealous contemplation. 
Shak., Rich. III., ill. 7. 
2. One of the little balls, of wood, cocoanut- 
shell, pearl, glass, jewels, or other material, 
strung in a prescribed order, which form the 
chaplet or rosary in use in the devotions of 
Roman Catholics, Buddhists, etc., to keep count 
of the number of prayers said. See pair of 
beads, below. 
The commonest, though not the only, appliance for 
reckoning these prayers was, and still is, a stnng of beads 
so put together that every set of ten smaller ones for the 
" Hail Marys" is parted by a larger bead, to tell when the 
" Our Father " must be recited. 
Rock, Church of our Fathers, III. i. 320. 
3. Anything resembling a rosary-bead, strung 
with others for ornament, as in necklaces or 
beadwork: as, glass, amber, metal, coral, or 
other beads. 
With scarfs, and fans, and double change of bravery, 
With ;unl.(T bracelets, beads, and all this knavery. 
Shak., T. of the S., iv. 3. 
4. Any small globular, cylindrical, or annular 
body, as the small projecting piece of metal at 
the end of a gun-barrel used as a sight, a drop 
of liquid, etc. 
Brads of sweat have stood upon thy brow. 
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. S. 
He raised his piece gradually, until the bead . . . of the 
barrel was brought to a line with the spot which he in- 
tended to hit. J. J. Audubon, Ornith. Biog., I. 298. 
5. One of the circular markings of certain dia- 
toms. 6. The bubble or mass of bubbles ris- 
ing to the top or resting on the surface of a 
liquid when shaken or decanted : as, the bead 
of wines or spirits. 
Give me the wine of thought whose bead 
Sparkles along the page I read. 
Whittier, Lines on a Fly-Leaf. 
Pleasure, that immortal essence, the beauteous bead 
sparkling in the cup, effervesces soon and subsides. 
Alcott, Table-Talk, p. 75. 
7. A glass globule for trying the strength of 
alcoholic spirits. Beads are numbered according to 
their specific gravities, and the strength of the spirit is 
denominated by the number of that one which remains 
suspended in it, and neither sinks to the bottom nor floats 
on the surface. Beads, in determining the strength of 
spirits, are now for the most part superseded by the 
hydrometer. 
8. In mineral., in the blowpipe examination of 
minerals, a globule of borax or other flux which 
is supported on a platinum wire, and in which 
the substance under examination is dissolved 
in the blowpipe flame. 9. In arcli. and join- 
en/, a small convex molding, in section a semi- 
circle or greater than a semicircle; properly, 
a plain molding, but often synonymous with 
astragal, which is better reserved for a small 
convex molding cut into the form of a string of 
bead-furnace 
Tin- Wad is a \c-ry frfqiletit ornament, used in 
111:11 k n junction or a separation, as between the shaft anil 
til.- <:i|ill..l uf a 
riilllliill, tu iliv-- 
an an^'l.-, . [<-. It 
is Inn. I. used ill 
u...,.lu,.]k of all 
kinds, fi.'in . :u- 
lenters' wi.rk to 
till- till. '-I kill. Is. if 
J..JII. t> :nnt ealii- 
ni-t-iii-k. Among 
joiners tin- bead 
is variously In- 
tr.'.lu.v.l ; sa: (a) 
..BIA.O 
Bead as used beneath a capital. AM>ey- 
church or Vezelay. Vonnc. France; nth 
,, lury . ( From Vtollet-le-Duc's "Diet, dc 
Fig. 4 . 
1), framed u.nkin 
whieh the panel 
is tlii>h with the 
framing and has 
a I iea. I i nn on tw.i 
edge* in the .11 
reetioii of the 
grain only, while 
the ends are left 
plain ; (b) bead 
and flush (fig. 2), 
framed work in 
which a I., a.t i- 
rimontheedgoof __ , 
the framing; (r) f Architecture." ) 
bMd itntl guint 
(fig. 3). the edge of a piece of stuff on which a bead is 
formed, or stuck, as it Is called, flush with the surface; 
(d) bead and double quirk, or return ttead (fig. 4), the 
angle of a piece 
of stuff on which a 
bead Is stuck and 
quirked or relieved 
on both surfaces ; 
(') I'-uif, butt, and 
square work, a 
panel which has 
beads on two of its 
edges on one side 
only, while the 
other side is plain. 
(/) bead, flush, and 
s</uare, framing 
which is beaded 
on one side only. 
10. In bookbinding, shoemaking, etc., any cord- 
like prominence, as the roll on the head-band 
of a book, the seam of a shoe, etc. Bally'a 
beads, appearances resembling a row of bright beads, seen 
at the moon's limb in a total solar eclipse about the instant 
of internal contact. The phenomenon is due to diffrac- 
tion and irradiation, and is much exaggerated in case the 
telescope is imperfect or out of focus. 80 called from the 
English astronomer Francis Baily, who observed these ob- 
jects in the annular eclipse of May 15, 1836. Druidical 
bead. Same as adder-stone. Pair of beads I M E. peire 
of bedes], that is, "set of beads" (Shak., Rich. II., 1U. S), 
a rosary ; now, specifically, a chaplet of five decades, that 
is, a third part of the rosary. A chaplet or pair of beads, 
as thus restricted, is the form iu common use under the 
name of the beads. The large beads between the decades 
were formerly called gaudies (see gaud, gaudy) ; each 
separate bead, or grain, as it is now termed, Tynuale calls 
n stone. 
Of smal coral aboute hir arm she bar 
A peire of bedes gauded al with grene. 
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., L 169. 
The beads for saying the rosary went by several names, 
"a pair of beads"; "a pair of Pater nosters"; "ave 
beads ' ; but never were they called a rosary. 
Quoted in Rock's Church of our Fathers, III. i. 327, note. 
St. Cuthbert's beads, or fairy beads, the small perfo- 
rated joints of the steins of fossil encrinites, formerly 
much used in rosaries. To bid (one's) beads (formerly 
also in singular, to bid a bead) [ME. bidden or beden a bede 
or bedes], literally, to offer (one's) prayers ; hence the later 
equivalent phrases to say or recite (one's) beads, now with 
reference, as literally in the phrase to tell (one's) beads, to 
counting off prayers by means of the beads on the rosary. 
The phrases to count and to number (one's) beads are merely 
literary. 
A peire of bedis eke she here 
Upon a lace, all.- of white threde, 
On which that she hir bedfs bede. 
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 7872. 
To draw a bead on, to take deliberate aim at, with a 
musket or other firearm. (See def. 4.) 
bead (bed), r. t. [< bead, n.'] To ornament 
with beads ; raise beads upon, 
beaded (be'ded), p. a. [< bead + -*rf2.] i. in 
the form of a bead or of a collection of beads. 
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim. 
Keats, Ode to a Nightingale. 
With woolly breasts and beaded eyes. 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, xcv. 
2. Provided with or formed of beads, or of 
small bodies having the appearance of beads: 
as, a .beaded necklace or bracelet. 3. In bot., 
moniliform: said of vessels that are deeply 
constricted so as to resemble strings of beads. 
4. Having a bead: as, beaded ale Beaded 
lace, lace through which beads are woven in the pattern. 
Beaded Wire, wire ornamented with Lead-like swellings. 
header (be'der), n. A tool for raising orna- 
mental beadwork on metal boxes. 
bead-furnace (bed'fer'nas), M. A furnace in 
which the small glass cylinders from which 
beads are made are rounded. The cylinders are 
placed in a drum over a fire sufficiently hot to soften the 
glass, and the rounding is effected by revolving the drum. 
