Bishop

/ˈbɪʃəp/ · noun

Meaning

(Christianity) An overseer of congregations: either any such overseer, generally speaking, or (in Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism, etc.) an official in the church hierarchy (actively or nominally) governing a diocese, supervising the church's priests, deacons, and property in its territory..

Definitions by Sense

1. (Christianity) An overseer of congregations: either any such overseer, generally speaking, or (in Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism, etc.) an official in the church hierarchy (actively or nominally) governing a diocese, supervising the church's priests, deacons, and property in its territory.
2. (obsolete) The holder of the Greek or Roman position of episcopus, supervisor over the public dole of grain, etc.
3. (obsolete) Any watchman, inspector, or overlooker.
4. A chief of the Festival of Fools or St. Nicholas Day.
5. (chess) The chess piece denoted ♗ or ♝ which moves along diagonal lines and developed from the shatranj alfil ("elephant") and was originally known as the aufil or archer in English.
6. Any of various African birds of the genus Euplectes; a kind of weaverbird closely related to the widowbirds.
7. (dialectal) A ladybug or ladybird, beetles of the family Coccinellidae.
8. A flowering plant of the genus Bifora.

Example Sentences

King James of blessed memory said, no Bishop, no King: it was not he, but others that added, No Ceremony, no Bishop.

St. Ignatius... In his 'Epiſtle to the Magneſians,' he exhorts them to do all things in the love of God, telling them, the Biſhop preſides in the place of God...

These ministers were at first confined to the three orders of bishops, priests, and deacons.

It is a fact now generally recognized by theologians of all shades of opinion, that in the language of the New Testament the same officer in the Church is called indifferently ‘bishop’ ἐπίσκοπος and ‘elder’ or ‘presbyter’ πρεσβύτερος.

The Jubilee Mass had a special solemnity due to the presence of two exiled Chinese bishops—Thomas Cardinal Tien, Archbishop of Peking, and Bishop Joseph Yuen, of Chu-ma-tien, Honan—as well as the recently named bishop of Taichung, Formosa, Most Rev. William Kupfer, MM, who was in the United States to attend the Maryknoll General Chapter.

They gave away corn, not cash; and Cicero was made bishop, or overseer, of this public victualling.

There is no place we see privileged from temptations, no desert so solitary but the devil will seek it out; no pinnacle so high but the devil is a bishop over it, to visit and overlook it.

The Bishoppes some name Alphins, some fooles, and some name them Princes; other some call them Archers.

Synonyms for bishop

Antonyms for bishop

Related Words

Word Forms

• bishops
• byshop
• bishoping
• bishopping
• bishoped
• bishopped

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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