| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| beadle |
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| SYLLABICATION: | bea·dle |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  b d l |
| NOUN: | A minor parish official formerly employed in an English church to usher and keep order during services. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English bedel, herald (from Old English bydel)and from Old French bedel (from Medieval Latin bedellus, from Old High German butil; see bheudh- in Appendix I).
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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