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adjective · 2 syllables · /'biː.di/

BEADY

What does "BEADY" mean?

Of eyes, small, round, and glittering, often suggesting sharp or sly attention.

Meanings

  1. Describing eyes that are small, shining, and watchful, like beads. The rat fixed its beady eyes on the crumb and froze.

Did you know?

  • A 'beady' eye traces back to prayer: in Old English a 'bede' was a prayer, and only because people counted prayers on a string did the little spheres - and then the eyes that resemble them - inherit the name.

Word origin

From 'bead' plus '-y', the eyes being likened to small round glass beads; 'bead' itself comes from Old English 'gebed', a prayer, since rosary beads were counted while praying.

Remember it

BEADY eyes look like glassy BEADs strung on a string, with a -Y added.

A little poem

Two black beads behind the hedge stay still -
the garden thinks it's empty. It is not.

couplet

Wordplay

  • Why keep a beady eye on a jeweler? Because everything he sees, he wants to string along.

What it teaches

Small watchful attention misses less than a wide, lazy gaze; notice like a bead, not a window.

Quick facts

What does BEADY mean?

Of eyes, small, round, and glittering, often suggesting sharp or sly attention.

Is BEADY a valid word?

Yes — BEADY is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.

How many letters is BEADY?

BEADY has 5 letters and 2 syllables.

Where does BEADY come from?

From 'bead' plus '-y', the eyes being likened to small round glass beads; 'bead' itself comes from Old English 'gebed', a prayer, since rosary beads were counted while praying.

What can BEADY teach us?

Small watchful attention misses less than a wide, lazy gaze; notice like a bead, not a window.

How players do

Be the first to solve it.

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