beadle Hear it!

beadle definition

bea·dle (bēd′'l)

noun

  1. Historical a minor parish officer in the Church of England, who kept order in church
  2. Obsolete a messenger of a law court

Etymology: ME bidel (< OE bydel, akin to beodan, to bid, order), bedel < OFr bedel < Frank *bidal, akin to OE form

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Comments
Improve this definition.
Do you have more to add? Share your linguistic knowledge or observation.
/Register to save your comments.