Job’s tearspl.n.1. (used with a sing. or pl. verb) A tropical Asian grass (Coix lacryma-jobi) having white beadlike grains.2. (used with a pl. verb) The grains of this plant, eaten or used as ornamental beads.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.