beadroll

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English

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Etymology

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From bead +‎ roll.

Noun

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beadroll (plural beadrolls)

  1. (obsolete) A catalogue of people whose souls are to be be prayed for.
  2. A catalogue of names; a pedigree, a long respected series.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. [], London: [] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
      Dan Chaucer, well of English vndefyled, / On Fames eternall beadroll worthie to be fyled.
    • 1806, Abraham Hayward, “Vicissitudes of Family [] ”, in Foreign Quarterly Review, volume 107:
      It is quite startling, on going over the beadroll of English worthies, to find how few are directly represented in the male line.