Obs. Also 7 beedhook. [Chiefly in Chapman: can he have formed it from OE. beadu battle, war ? Cf. OE. beadu wæpen weapon of battle, etc.] ? A kind of boat hook.
1600. Chapman, Iliad, XV. 356. The Greeks with bead-hooks fought. Ibid. (1614), Odyss., IX. 651. A bead-hook then … I snatch’d up. Ibid. (1631), Cæsar & P., Plays, 1873, III. 180. Yet beare halfe pikes or bead-hookes.
1614. Raleigh, Hist. World, II. VIII. iii. § 18. 474. Corne, Iron, Canuas for Sailes, Axes, Beede-hookes, Hand-milles.
