Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
BEAD, n.2 See also combs. Bede-house, Bede(s)man. [bid Sc.; bèd ne.Sc.; be1d Ags.; bed Slg. and Fif.]
1. A bead, especially of the rosary, and hence the rosary.Mry. 1849 A. Blackhall Lays of the North 37:
Pell-mell went bead and book.
2. A glass of spirits. Prob. because of resemblance of bubbles (in spirits and sparkling wines) to beads; or it may have come from the bead-like bodies of varying density, once used to ascertain the specific gravity of spirituous liquids. Gen.Sc.Mry. 1865 W. Tester Poems 94:
An 'mony a bead, I wat, we had wi' ane anither.m.Sc. 1838 A. Rodger Poems and Songs 138:
Magnificent Tom, when the bee's in his head, Will sing, tell queer stories, or “tip off his bead.”Slg. 1862 D. Taylor Poems 33:
He gaed As fou's a piper to his bed, He early rose, gaed for a bead.Edb. 1992:
What a bead he had in him last week!wm.Sc. 1984:
He has a good bead in him.Dmb. 1931 A. J. Cronin Hatter's Castle 362:
His first . . . proceeding . . . was to get a few drinks into himself quickly. “When I've got a bead in me,” he would say, “I'm as right as the mail.”Arg.1 1929:
He had a good bead in 'um yesterday.Ayr. 1862 J. Baxter The Kirn, Twa Kirks, etc. 95:
A whisky bead was Bauldy's creed, His priest a cog o' reaming ale.Rxb. 1847 J. Halliday Rustic Bard 174:
Ilk rantin', rovin', ramblin' chiel, Wha likes a glass an' hizzie weel, Frae raking now he maun off peel, Nor taste the bead.
3. Strength of spirits. Prob. connected with the method of finding the specific gravity by putting in numbered glass beads of different densities.Sc. 1825 Writer's Clerk III. 113:
"Now, sir, this is special guid," filling up the glass to James, "Bead ane an' twenty".Ayr. 1836 C. Lockhart Poems on various Subjects 60:
I've drucken whisky, strong and sma', Frae bead aughteen to forty-twa.Ayr.4 1928:
That dram has a guid bead.
4. One of the eyelets through which the warp threads pass in a harness or jacquard loom, a mail (see Mail, n.4 1) (Ayr. 1975).
[Originally the prayer; then applied to what was associated with the prayer — the “beads” of the rosary: and finally anything resembling the “beads” of the rosary. O.Sc. bede, beid, bed, a prayer, a bead of a rosary. O.E. gebed, a prayer, biddan (*bidjan), to ask. Mod.Eng. ‡bid beads; Du. bede; Ger. bitte; Goth. bida, a prayer.]
