beadle

UK: /ˈbiːd^əl/ US: (bēd′l)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

bea•dle  (bēd′l), n. 

1. a parish officer having various subordinate duties, as keeping order during services, waiting on the rector, etc.
2. Judaism sexton (def. 2).

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

Bea•dle  (bēd′l), n. 

1. Biographical George Wells, born 1903, U.S. biologist and educator: Nobel prize for medicine 1958.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

beadle / ˈbiːd^əl/ noun

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

Etymology: Old English bydel; related to Old High German butil bailiff

ˈbeadleship noun

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

Beadle / ˈbiːd^əl/ noun

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