/ · 1894 Brewer’s · B · Beadle
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A person whose duty it is to bid or cite persons to appear to a summons; also a church servant, whose duty it is to bid the parishioners to attend the vestry, or to give notice of vestry meetings. (Anglo-Saxon, bædel, from beodan, to bid or summon.)
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.