beadle

[ beed-l ]
/ ˈbid l /

noun

a parish officer having various subordinate duties, as keeping order during services, waiting on the rector, etc.

Origin of beadle

before 1000; Middle English bedel, dial. (SE) variant of bidel, Old English bydel apparitor, herald (cognate with German Büttel), equivalent to bud- (weak stem of bēodan to command) + -il noun suffix

OTHER WORDS FROM beadle

sub·bea·dle, noun un·der·bea·dle, noun

Definition for beadle (2 of 2)

Beadle
[ beed-l ]
/ ˈbid l /

noun

George Wells,1903–1989, U.S. biologist and educator: Nobel Prize in Medicine 1958.

Example sentences from the Web for beadle

British Dictionary definitions for beadle (1 of 2)

beadle
/ (ˈbiːdəl) /

noun

(formerly, in the Church of England) a minor parish official who acted as an usher and kept order
(in Scotland) a church official attending on the minister
Judaism a synagogue attendant See also shammes
an official in certain British universities and other institutions

Derived forms of beadle

beadleship, noun

Word Origin for beadle

Old English bydel; related to Old High German butil bailiff

British Dictionary definitions for beadle (2 of 2)

Beadle
/ (ˈbiːdəl) /

noun

George Wells . 1903–89, US biologist, who shared the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine in 1958 for his work in genetics

Medical definitions for beadle

Beadle
[ bēdl ]
George Wells 1903-1989

American biologist. He shared a 1958 Nobel Prize for discovering how genes transmit hereditary characteristics.