bishop

plural bishops · alternative obsolete byshop

1. ChristianityAn 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.

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

   1845, J. Lingard, Hist. & Antiq. Anglo-Saxon Church, 3rd edition, I. iv. 146

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

   1641, “Smectymnuus”, in Vindic. Answer Hvmble Remonstr., §16. 208

   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...

   1715, William Hendley, A Defence of the Church of England, section 16

   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.

   1868, Joseph Barber Lightfoot, St. Paul's epistle to the Philippians, section 93

   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.

   2013, Maureen Abbott, New Lights from Old Truths: Living the Signs of the Times, volume IV, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 375

   1. nonstandardChristianityA similar official or chief priest in another religion.

      The Byshop of Egypt is called the Souldan.

      1615, William Bedwell, Arabian Trudgman in translating Mohammedis Imposturæ, sig. N4

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

      1586, Pierre de la Primaudaye, translated by Thomas Bowes, The French Academie, I. 633

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

      2001, José Carlos Valle Pérez, Jorge Rodrigues, El arte románico en Galicia y Portugal, page 254

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

      2018, Merran Fraenkel, Tribe and Class in Monrovia, page 139

2. obsoleteThe 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.

   1808, The Monthly Magazine and British Register, 26 109

3. obsoleteAny 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.

   a. 1627 (date written), Lancelot Andrewes, “Seven Sermons upon the Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness. Sermon IV.”, in J[ohn] P[osthumous] W[ilson], editor, Ninety-six Sermons […], volume V, Oxford, Oxfordshire: John Henry Parker, published 1843, →OCLC, page 516

4. A chief of the Festival of Fools or St. Nicholas Day.
5. board gamesThe 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.

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

   1656, Gioachino Greco, “The royall game of chesse-play, being the study of Biochimo”, in Francis Beale, transl., (Please provide the book title or journal name)

   1 more example

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

   1562, Rowbotham in Archaeologia, XXIV. 203

6. Any of various African birds of the genus Euplectes; a kind of weaverbird closely related to the widowbirds.
7. dialectalA 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.

   1875, William Douglas Parish, A Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect

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

   Spicy bishop, drink divine.

   1801, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Poems, II. 169

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

   ante 1745, Jonathan Swift, Women who cry Apples in Works (1746), VIII. 192

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

   1791, J. Boswell, Life of Johnson, anno 1752 I. 135

10. USarchaicA bustle.

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

    c. 1860, John Saxe, Progress

11. UKarchaicdialectalA children's smock or pinafore.

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

    1874, Evelyn Waugh in Lanc. Gloss. (E.D.S.)

present singular third person bishops · participle present bishoping · participle present bishopping · participle past bishoped · past bishoped · participle past bishopped · past bishopped · alternative obsolete byshop

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

   Harding and Saunders Bishop it in England.

   1655, T. Fuller, Church-hist. Brit., ix. 81

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   Se bisceop biþ gesett... to bisceopgenne cild.

   c. 1000, Thorpe's Laws, II. 348 (Bosw.)

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

   c. 1315, Shoreham, section 5

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

   1622, W. Yonge, Diary, published 1848, section 50

   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.

   1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 35

   1. broadlyobsoletejocularlyChristianityTo confirm (in its other senses).

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

      1596, W. Warner, Albions Eng., x. liv. 243

      1 more example

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

      1700, Boccaccio, “Cymon & Iphigenia”, in John Dryden, transl., Fables, section 550

2. ChristianityTo 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.

   1 more example

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

   1861 November 23, Sat. Rev., 537

3. rareChristianityTo provide with bishops.

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

   1865 December 6, Daily Telegraph, 5/3

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

   Th' milk's bishopped again!

   1875, Lanc. Gloss., section 40

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   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.

   ante 1536, Tyndale, Works, 166 (T.)

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

   1641, John Milton, Animadversions, section 9

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

   1738, Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat., Jonathan Swift, section 10

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

   1863, E. C. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, I. 64

5. broadlyTo 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.

   2 more examples

   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.

   1788, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 2nd edition, Francis Grose

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

   1840, E. E. Napier, Scenes & Sports Foreign Lands, I. v. 138

present singular third person bishops · participle present bishoping · participle present bishopping · participle past bishoped · past bishoped · participle past bishopped · past bishopped

1. UKcolloquialobsoleteTo murder by drowning.

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

   1840, R.H. Barham, Some Account of a New Play in Ingoldsby Legends 1st series, 308

   2 more examples

   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.

   1870, Walter Thornbury, Old Stories Re-told

   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.

   2002, Helen Smith, Grave-Robbers, Cut-throats, and Poisoners of London, section 66

plural Bishops · alternative Bishopp

1. countableAn English surname originating as an occupation.
2. countableA male given name transferred from the surname.
3. A locale in the United States.
   1. countableuncountableA city in Inyo County, California; named for nearby Bishop Creek, itself named for early settler Samuel Addison Bishop.
   2. countableuncountableA town in Oconee County, Georgia; named for local landowner W. H. Bishop.
   3. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Forest City Township, Mason County, Illinois; named for landowner Henry Bishop.
   4. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Worcester County, Maryland.
   5. countableuncountableA city in Nueces County, Texas; named for landowner F. Z. Bishop.
   6. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Tazewell County, Virginia and McDowell County, West Virginia, located on the state line.
   7. countableuncountableA ghost town in Whitman County, Washington; named for two early settlers.

plural Bishops

1. Alternative letter-case form of bishop, particularly as a title or term of address.
2. 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.