Beadle
Definition, Meaning & Examples
Pronunciation /ˈbiːdəl/ · Part of speech noun
Quick meaning: Beadle is a noun meaning A parish constable, a uniformed minor (lay) official, who ushers and keeps order.
Meaning
A parish constable, a uniformed minor (lay) official, who ushers and keeps order.
More Meanings
- (Scotland, ecclesiastical) An attendant to the minister.
- A warrant officer.
Example Sentences
His face expressed horror and indignation. Instinct rather than reason came to my help; he was a Beadle; I was a woman.
Yes, yes, begad—of course you go out with him—it’s like the country, you know; everybody goes out with everybody in the Gardens, and there are beadles, you know, and that sort of thing—everybody walks in the Temple Gardens.
Twas on a holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean, The children walking two and two in red and blue and green: Grey-headed beadles walked before, with wands as white as snow, Till into the high dome of Paul's they like Thames waters flow.
The beadle […] generally understood in the neighbourhood to be a ridiculous institution […] The policeman considers him an imbecile civilian, a remnant of the barbarous watchmen times, but gives him admission as something that must be borne with until government shall abolish him.
Word Forms
- beadles
Related Words
Related dictionary entries include bailiff, sexton, rascal, bedral, bedell, underbeadle.
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Sources & Attribution
FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.