Beadle
name, noun ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A parish constable, a uniformed minor (lay) official, who ushers and keeps order.
"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."
- 2 a minor parish official who serves a ceremonial function wordnet
- 3 An attendant to the minister. Scotland
- 4 A warrant officer.
- 1 A surname originating as an occupation for a court official.
Example
More examples"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."
Etymology
From Middle English bedel, bidel, from Old English bydel (“warrant officer, apparitor”), from Proto-West Germanic *budil, from Proto-Germanic *budilaz (“herald”), equivalent to bid + -le. Cognate with Dutch beul, German Büttel. More at bid.
Related phrases
More for "beadle"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.