bishop

noun

1. An overseer of congregations: either any such overseer, generally speaking, or (in Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism, etc.) an official in the church hierarchy (actively or nominally) governing a diocese, supervising the church's priests, deacons, and property in its territory.

   “King James of blessed memory said, no Bishop, no King: it was not he, but others that added, No Ceremony, no Bishop.”

   “St. Ignatius... In his 'Epiſtle to the Magneſians,' he exhorts them to do all things in the love of God, telling them, the Biſhop preſides in the place of God...”

   “These ministers were at first confined to the three orders of bishops, priests, and deacons.”

   “It is a fact now generally recognized by theologians of all shades of opinion, that in the language of the New Testament the same officer in the Church is called indifferently ‘bishop’ ἐπίσκοπος and ‘elder’ or ‘presbyter’ πρεσβύτερος.”

   “The Jubilee Mass had a special solemnity due to the presence of two exiled Chinese bishops—Thomas Cardinal Tien, Archbishop of Peking, and Bishop Joseph Yuen, of Chu-ma-tien, Honan—as well as the recently named bishop of Taichung, Formosa, Most Rev. William Kupfer, MM, who was in the United States to attend the Maryknoll General Chapter.”

2. (nonstandard)An overseer of congregations: either any such overseer, generally speaking, or (in Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Anglicanism, etc.) an official in the church hierarchy (actively or nominally) governing a diocese, supervising the church's priests, deacons, and property in its territory.

   “The Caliphaes of the Sarasins were kings and chiefe bishops in their religion.”

   “The Byshop of Egypt is called the Souldan.”

   “[…] which explains the beheading of the Muslim Bishop of Lisbon, soon after the Reconquista.”

   “The [holder of the office of] Imam [of Monrovia] is commonly referred to, both in conversation and in the press, as ‘the Muslim Bishop’.”

3. (obsolete)The holder of the Greek or Roman position of episcopus, supervisor over the public dole of grain, etc.

   “They gave away corn, not cash; and Cicero was made bishop, or overseer, of this public victualling.”

4. (obsolete)Any watchman, inspector, or overlooker.

   “There is no place we see privileged from temptations, no desert so solitary but the devil will seek it out; no pinnacle so high but the devil is a bishop over it, to visit and overlook it.”

5. A chief of the Festival of Fools or St. Nicholas Day.
6. The chess piece denoted ♗ or ♝ which moves along diagonal lines and developed from the shatranj alfil ("elephant") and was originally known as the aufil or archer in English.

   “The Bishoppes some name Alphins, some fooles, and some name them Princes; other some call them Archers.”

   “A Bishop or Archer, who is commonly figured with his head cloven.”

7. Any of various African birds of the genus Euplectes; a kind of weaverbird closely related to the widowbirds.
8. (dialectal)A ladybug or ladybird, beetles of the family Coccinellidae.

   “‘Bishop, Bishop-Barnabee, Tell me when my wedding shall be; If it be to-morrow day, Ope your wings and fly away.”

9. A flowering plant of the genus Bifora.
10. A sweet drink made from wine, usually with oranges, lemons, and sugar; mulled and spiced port.

    “Well roasted, with Sugar and Wine in a Cup, They'll make a sweet Bishop.”

    “A bowl of that liquor called Bishop, which Johnson had always liked.”

    “Spicy bishop, drink divine.”

11. (US, archaic)A bustle.

    “If, by her bishop, or her 'grace' alone, A genuine lady, or a church, is known.”

12. (UK, archaic, dialectal)A children's smock or pinafore.

    “Here; tak him, an wesh him; an' put him a clen bishop on.”

13. (alt-of)Alternative letter-case form of bishop, particularly as a title or term of address.
14. A self-propelled 25-pounder vehicle produced by the United Kingdom during World War II, so called from a supposed resemblance to a bishop's miter.

verb

1. To act as a bishop, to perform the duties of a bishop, especially to confirm another's membership in the church.

   “Se bisceop biþ gesett... to bisceopgenne cild.”

   “Wanne the bisschop, bisschopeth the Tokene of marke he set on the.”

   “The Marquis of Buckingham and his wife were both bishopped, or confirmed by the Bishop of London.”

   “Harding and Saunders Bishop it in England.”

   “Here too physical effects were vulgarly attributed to the ceremony… as evidenced by the case of the old Norfolk woman who claimed to have been ‘bishopped’ seven times, because she found it helped her rheumatism.”

2. (broadly, obsolete)To act as a bishop, to perform the duties of a bishop, especially to confirm another's membership in the church.

   “Why sent they it by Felton to be bishoped at Paules?”

   “He... chose to bear The Name of Fool confirm'd, and Bishop'd by the Fair.”

3. To make a bishop.

   “1549, H. Latimer, 2nd Serm. before Kynges Maiestie, 5th Serm. sig. Pviv Thys hathe bene often tymes... sene in preachers before they were byshoppyd or benificed.”

   “There may be other... matters to occupy the thoughts of one about to be bishopped.”

4. (rare)To provide with bishops.

   “Italy would be well bishoped if her episcopacy... did not exceed fifty-nine.”

5. (UK, dialectal)To permit food (especially milk) to burn while cooking (from bishops' role in the inquisition or as mentioned in the quotation below, of horses).

   “If the porage be burned to, or the meate ouer rosted, we say the bishop hath put his foote in the potte or the bishop hath played the cooke, because the bishops burn who they lust and whosoever displeaseth them.”

   “It will be as bad as the Bishops foot in the broth.”

   “The Cream is burnt to. Betty. Why, Madam, the Bishop has set his Foot in it.”

   “She canna stomach it if it's bishopped e'er so little.”

   “Th' milk's bishopped again!”

6. (broadly)To make a horse seem younger, particularly by manipulation of its teeth.

   “1727, R. Bradley, Family Dict. at "Horse" This way of making a Horse look young is... called Bishoping.”

   “Bishopped, or To bishop. A term among horſe dealers, for burning the mark into a horſe's tooth, after he has loſt it by age... It is a common ſaying of milk that is burnt to, that the biſhop has fet his foot in it. Formerly, when a biſhop paſſed through a village, all the inhabitants ran out of their houſes to ſolicit his bleſſing, even leaving their milk, &c. on the fire, to take its chance; which, when burnt to, was ſaid to be biſhopped.”

   “I found his teeth had been filed down and bishoped with the greatest neatness and perfection.”

7. (UK, colloquial, obsolete)To murder by drowning.

   “I Burked the papa, now I'll Bishop the son.”

   “There were no more Burking murders until 1831, when two men, named Bishop and Williams, drowned a poor [14-year-old] Italian boy in Bethnal Green, and sold his body to the surgeons.”

   “John Bishop and another grave-robber called Thomas Williams had drowned the boy, a woman and another boy in a well in John Bishop's garden in Bethnal Green... Bishop and Williams were hanged outside Newgate Prison in December 1831 in front of an angry crowd of 30,000.”

name

1. (countable)An English surname originating as an occupation.
2. (countable)A male given name transferred from the surname.
3. (countable, uncountable)A locale in the United States.
4. (countable, uncountable)A locale in the United States.
5. (countable, uncountable)A locale in the United States.
6. (countable, uncountable)A locale in the United States.
7. (countable, uncountable)A locale in the United States.
8. (countable, uncountable)A locale in the United States.
9. (countable, uncountable)A locale in the United States.