BEADLE

beadle, also bedel or bedell (from a.s. _bydel_, from _beodan_, to bid), originally a subordinate officer of a court or deliberative assembly, who summoned persons to appear and answer charges against them (see du cange, _supra tit. bedelli_). as such, the beadle goes back to early teutonic times; he was probably attached to the moot as its messenger or summoner, being under the direction of the reeve or constable of the leet. after the norman conquest, the beadle seems to have diminished in importance, becoming merely the crier in the manor and forest courts, and sometimes executing processes. he was also employed as the messenger of the parish, and thus became, to a certain extent, an ecclesiastical officer, but in reality acted more as a constable by keeping order in the church and churchyard during service. he also attended upon the clergy, the churchwardens and the vestry. he was appointed by the parishioners in vestry, and his wages were payable out of the church rate. from the poor law act of 1601 till the act of 1834 by which poor-law administration was transferred to guardians, the beadle in england was an officer of much importance in his capacity of agent for the overseers. in all medieval universities the bedel was an officer who exercised various executive and spectacular functions (h. rashdall, _hist. of universities in the middle ages_, i. 193). he still survives in many universities on the continent of europe and in those of oxford and cambridge, but he is now shorn of much of his importance. at oxford there are four bedels, representing the faculties of law, medicine, arts and divinity. their duties are chiefly processional, the junior or sub-bedel being the official attendant on the vice-chancellor, before whom he bears a silver mace. at cambridge there are two, termed esquire-bedels, who both walk before the vice-chancellor, bearing maces. beak (early forms _beke_ and _becke_, from fr. _bec_, late lat. _beccus_, supposed to be a gaulish word; the celtic _bec_ and _beq_, however, are taken from the english), the horny bill of a bird, and so used of the horny ends of the mandibles of the octopus, the duck-billed platypus and other animals; hence the rostrum (q.v.) or ornamented prow of ancient war vessels. the term is also applied, in classic architecture, to the pendent fillet on the edge of the corona of a cornice, which serves as a drip, and prevents the rain from flowing inwards. the slang use of "beak" for a magistrate or justice of the peace has not been satisfactorily explained. the earlier meaning, which lasted down to the beginning of the 19th century, was "watchman" or "constable." according to _slang and its analogues_ (j.s. farmer and w.e. henley, 1890), the first example of its later use is in the name of "the blind beak," which was given to henry fielding's half-brother, sir john fielding (about 1750). thomas harman, in his book on vagrants, _caveat or warening for commen cursitors, vulgarely called vagabones_, 1573, explains _harmans beck_ as "counstable," _harman_ being the word for the stocks. attempts have been made to connect "beak" in this connexion with the old english _beag_, a gold torque or collar, worn as a symbol of authority, but this could only be plausible on the assumption that "magistrate" was the earlier significance of the word. beaker (scottish _bicker_, lat. _bicarium_, ger. _becher_, a drinking-bowl), a large wide-mouthed drinking-cup or laboratory vessel. see drinking-vessels.