beadleship en · NOUN
Etymology
From beadle + -ship.
Meanings
-
(uncountable, usually) The office or jurisdiction of a beadle.
He was degraded in their eyes; he had lost caste and station before the very paupers; he had fallen from all the height and pomp of beadleship to the lowest depth of the most snubbed hen-peckery.
1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “In Which the Reader, if He or She Resort to the Fifth Chapter of This Second Book Will Perceive a Contrast Not Uncommon in Matrimonial Cases”, in Oliver Twist; […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 297:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| beadleships | Number=Plur | lexicographic |