beady

beady

English

Etymology

    From bead + -y.

    Pronunciation

    • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈbiː.di/
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)
    • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈbi.di/
    • Rhymes: -iːdi

    Adjective

    beady (comparative beadier or more beady, superlative beadiest or most beady)

    1. Resembling beads; small, round, and gleaming.
      • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 19, in Vanity Fair [], London: Bradbury and Evans [], published 1848, →OCLC:
        seeing Mrs. Bute's beady eyes
      • 1902, Robert Marshall Grade, The Haunted Major:
        I shivered in every limb, and a cold beady dew sprang out on my temples as I stood with eyes riveted on the spectral figure before me.
    2. Bright and penetrating. (of eyes or a look)
    3. Covered or ornamented with, or as if with, beads.
    4. Characterized by beads.
      beady liquor

    Derived terms

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