beadsman

English

Alternative forms

• bedesman

Etymology

From earlier bedeman, from Middle English bedeman (“a petitioner”), equivalent to bead (“request, petition, prayer”) +‎ -man.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbiːdzmən/

Noun

beadsman (plural beadsmen)

1. (historical) A petitioner; someone who seeks some type of favour from another, usually from a superior.
2. A man employed in praying; especially one who prays for another.
   • 2020, Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light, Fourth Estate, page 499:

     Good Lord Cromwell, stand my friend: exert yourself for Thomas Howard, who is your daily beadsman, your debtor for life.

3. (historical, England) A poor man, supported in a beadhouse, and required to pray for the soul of its founder; an almsman.
   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC:

     Whereby ye shall bind me to be […] your poor beadsman for ever unto Almighty God.

4. (Scotland, historical) A public almsman; one who received alms from the king, and was expected in return to pray for the royal welfare and that of the state; a licensed beggar.

Related terms

• beadswoman

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “beadsman”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• bad names