bead vs dab

bead

noun
  • A small drop of water or other liquid. 

  • A narrow molding with semicircular section. 

  • A bubble, in spirits. 

  • Each in a string of small balls making up the rosary or paternoster. 

  • Knowledge sufficient to direct one's activities to a purpose. 

  • A small, round ball at the end of a barrel of a gun used for aiming. 

  • A small, round object with a hole to allow it to be threaded on a cord or wire, particularly for decorative purposes. 

  • A rigid edge of a tire that mounts it on a wheel; tire bead. 

  • Various small, round solid objects. 

verb
  • To cause beads to form on (something). 

  • To apply beads to. 

  • To form into a bead. 

dab

noun
  • A small amount, a blob of some soft or wet substance. 

  • A small amount of hash oil. 

  • A soft tap or blow; a blow or peck from a bird's beak; an aimed blow. 

  • One skilful or proficient; an expert; an adept. 

  • A soft, playful box given in greeting or approval. 

  • A sand dab, a small flatfish of genus Citharichthys. 

  • A small flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae, especially Limanda limanda; a flounder. 

  • A hip hop dance move in which the dancer simultaneously drops the head while raising an arm, briefly resting their face in the elbow, as if sneezing into their elbow. 

adv
  • With a dab, or sudden contact. 

verb
  • To apply hash oil to a heated surface for the purpose of efficient combustion. 

  • To strike by a thrust; to hit with a sudden blow or thrust. 

  • To press lightly in a repetitive motion with a soft object without rubbing. 

  • To apply a substance in this way. 

  • To perform the dab dance move, by moving both arms to one side of the body parallel with your head. 

How often have the words bead and dab occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )