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bishop

Pronunciation: /ˈbɪʃəp/

The English word “bishop” has 19 meanings listed here.

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.
  2. A similar official or chief priest in another religion.
  3. The holder of the Greek or Roman position of episcopus, supervisor over the public dole of grain, etc.
  4. Any watchman, inspector, or overlooker.
  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.
  7. Any of various African birds of the genus Euplectes; a kind of weaverbird closely related to the widowbirds.
  8. A ladybug or ladybird, beetles of the family Coccinellidae.
  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.
  11. A bustle.
  12. A children's smock or pinafore.

verb

  1. To act as a bishop, to perform the duties of a bishop, especially to confirm another's membership in the church.
  2. To confirm (in its other senses).
  3. To make a bishop.
  4. To provide with bishops.
  5. To permit food (especially milk) to burn while cooking (from bishops' role in the inquisition or as mentioned in the quotation below, of horses).
  6. To make a horse seem younger, particularly by manipulation of its teeth.
  7. To murder by drowning.

Etymology

From Middle English bischop, bishop, bisshop, biscop, from Old English bisċop (“bishop”), from Proto-West Germanic *biskop, from Vulgar Latin (e)biscopus, from classical Latin episcopus (“overseer, supervisor”), from Ancient Greek ἐπίσκοπος (epískopos, “overseer”), from ἐπί (epí, “over”) + σκοπός (skopós, “watcher”), used in Greek and Latin both generally and as a title of civil officers. Cognate…

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