BEADY (beadier, beadiest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: beadier    , beadiest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does beady mean? 

• BEADY (adjective)
  The adjective BEADY has 2 senses:

1. small and round and shiny like a shiny bead or button

2. covered with beads or jewels or sequins

  Familiarity information: BEADY used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BEADY (adjective)

Comparative: beadier   
Superlative: beadiest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Small and round and shiny like a shiny bead or button

Synonyms:

beadlike; beady; buttonlike; buttony

Context example:

black buttony eyes

Similar:

bright (emitting or reflecting light readily or in large amounts)

Derivation:

bead (a shape that is spherical and small)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Covered with beads or jewels or sequins

Synonyms:

beady; gemmed; jeweled; jewelled; sequined; spangled; spangly

Similar:

adorned; decorated (provided with something intended to increase its beauty or distinction)

Derivation:

bead (a small ball with a hole through the middle)

 Context examples 

When I think of Mortimer Tregennis, with the foxy face and the small shrewd, beady eyes behind the spectacles, he is not a man whom I should judge to be of a particularly forgiving disposition.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Martin came back and looked at the beady eyes, sneering, truculent, cowardly, and there leaped into his vision, as on a screen, the same eyes when their owner was making a sale in the store below—subservient eyes, smug, and oily, and flattering.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)