drop one's beads

verb

To reveal one's homosexuality.

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Meanings

verbdrop one's beads (third-person singular simple present drops one's beads, present participle dropping one's beads, simple past and past participle dropped one's beads)

present singular third person drops one's beads · participle present dropping one's beads · participle past dropped one's beads · past dropped one's beads

  1. slangLGBTTo reveal one's homosexuality.

    But they will “drop their beads” (as queens used to say) one by one, until the full necklace lies on the floor. He'll mention he likes the ballet, you'll tell him of your interest in opera.

    1977, Charles Silverstein, Edmund White, The Joy of Gay Sex, New York: Crown Publishers, →ISBN, page 124
Cite this entry
APA

drop one's beads. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drop%20one's%20beads

MLA

“drop one's beads.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drop%20one's%20beads. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “drop one's beads,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drop%20one's%20beads.

Source: drop one's beads on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.