Dictionary Definition
beadle
Noun
1 a minor parish official who serves as an usher
and preserves order at services
2 United States biologist who discovered how
hereditary characteristics are transmitted by genes (1903-1989)
[syn: George
Beadle, George
Wells Beadle]
User Contributed Dictionary
see Beadle
English
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -iːdəl
Noun
Quotations
- 1789, William Blake, "Holy Thursday"
- 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. - William Blake, "Holy Thursday" (1789)
- The children walking two and two in red and blue and green:
- 1929, Virginia
Woolf, A
Room of One's Own, Penguin Books, paperback edition, page 8
- His face expressed horror and indignation. Instinct rather than reason came to my help; he was a Beadle; I was a woman.
Translations
a parish constable
- Italian: sagrestano
an attendant to the minister
a warrant officer
Extensive Definition
Beadle, sometimes spelled "bedel" is derived from
the Latin "bidellus" or "bedellus," rooted in words for
"herald."
The term moved into Old English as a title given to a Saxon officer
who summoned householders to council.
Religious beadles
In England, the word came to refer to a parish constable of the Anglican Church, one often charged with duties of charity. A famous fictional constabulary beadle is Mr Bumble from Charles Dickens' classic Oliver Twist, who oversees the parish workhouse and orphanage.In the Church
of Scotland, the title is used for one who attends the minister
during divine
service as an assistant.
In Judaism, the term "beadle" (in Hebrew:
shammash or "sexton") is sometimes used for the gabbai, the
caretaker or "man of all work," in a synagogue. Moshe the Beadle,
the caretaker of a synagogue in Sighet
in the 1940s, is an important character in Night by
Elie
Wiesel.
Beadles in education
In the medieval universities beadles were students chosen by instructors to act as assistants, carrying books, taking attendance, and assisting in classroom management.In the collegiate
universities in the United
Kingdom (for example Cambridge,
Oxford,
Durham,
and the University
of London), the post of beadle still exists. The beadle has
varying duties, always relating to management or security (never
instruction), and often represents the college to outsiders through
wearing a uniform and providing information.
The ancient
universities in Scotland have a ceremonial Bedellus, who is
also sometimes given the designation of head janitor. Officially,
they are responsible for administration of the buildings of the
university. They are most notable for being responsible for
carrying the University mace in
academic processions.
Jesuit secondary schools maintained the post of
beadle - some still do. In each classroom, a student designated as
beadle reports attendance to the teacher, acts as messenger should
one be necessary, assists in distributing materials, etc.
Popular references
John McLaughlin, the host of The McLaughlin Group, used to call former panelist Fred Barnes "The Beadle". McLaughlin's use of the term may well derive from his experiences when he was a Jesuit student or priest (see above).In Stephen
Sondheim's musical
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, later adapted
into a film by Tim Burton,
the cruel and corrupt Judge Turpin is served by an unctuous deputy
known as Beadle Bamford. "Beadle" also makes an appearance in the
list of professions running through one of the show's songs, "A
Little Priest."
Charles
Dickens' character from Oliver
Twist, Mr Bumble is
the parish Beadle and leader of the orphanage. He's officious,
corrupt, a chronic mangler of the King's English, and a great
source of comic relief.
Ellie
Wiesel's character from Night, Moshe the
Beadle is an escaptived captive from one of the camps who
returns to warn the Jews.
References
beadle in Dutch: Kerkbaljuw
beadle in Simple English: Beadle
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Bible clerk, Bible reader, G-man, MP, acolyte, almoner, anagnost, bailiff, beagle, bedral, bound bailiff, capitular, capitulary, captain, catchpole, chief of police,
choir chaplain, churchwarden, clerk, commissioner, constable, deacon, deaconess, deputy, deputy sheriff, detective, elder, elderman, fed, federal, flic, gendarme, government man,
inspector, lay elder,
lay reader, lector,
lecturer, lictor, lieutenant, mace-bearer,
marshal, mounted
policeman, narc, officer, parish clerk, patrolman, peace officer,
police captain, police commissioner, police constable, police
inspector, police matron, police officer, police sergeant, policeman, policewoman, portreeve, precentor, reader, reeve, roundsman, ruling elder,
sacrist, sacristan, sergeant, sergeant at arms,
sexton, shames, sheriff, sidesman, succentor, suisse, superintendent, teaching
elder, thurifer,
tipstaff, tipstaves, trooper, verger, vergeress