See Also: Beadle(medicine)
beadle(dictionary)
beadle(dictionary)
BEADLE(law)
Beadle, George(medicine)
Beadle, George Wells(encyclopedia)

beadle (iou)



beadle noun. Also (now only in sense 3) bedel, bedell.
[Old English bydel = Old High German butil (German Buttel) from Germanic base of Old English beodan (see BID verb), superseded by forms from Old French bedel (mod. bedeau) from Proto-Romance from Germanic.]
A person who makes a proclamation; a court usher; a town-crier. OE-L17.
A messenger or under-officer of justice. OE-E18.
A ceremonial usher, a mace-bearer, spec. in certain universities, city companies, etc. (sometimes conventionally spelt bedel, -ell); in University College, London, a porter. ME.
a. Hist. A parish officer appointed by the vestry to keep order in church, punish petty offenders, etc. L16.
b. In Scotland, a church official attending on the minister. M19.
beadledom noun (arch.) stupid officiousness M19.
beadleship noun the office or jurisdiction of a beadle M16.