beadsman
Americannoun
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beadsmen
plural
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a person who prays for another as a duty, especially when paid.
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an inmate of a poorhouse; almsman.
noun
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a person who prays for another's soul, esp one paid or fed for doing so
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a person kept in an almshouse
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of beadsman
1200–50; bead's man man of prayer; replacing Middle English bedeman. See bead, 's 1, man
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The door was shut, and Henry immediately after heard the loud call of some horsemen, inquiring of the beadsman whether he had not with him a companion.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 7 by Various
Yet why did the beadsman avoid the subject, and not offer satisfaction on a matter of importance to any one possessed of a spark of humanity?
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 7 by Various
In a few minutes, he saw the old beadsman, who he thought had betaken himself to his quarters at Pittenweem, come forth, in the company of a young woman rolled up in a cloak.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 7 by Various
Goddess! vouchsafe this aged man his right, To be your beadsman now that Was your knight.”
From Bacon and Shakspere by William Henry Burr
My een lack now their former licht," replied the beadsman, "but if ye, wha are younger, look weel to the east, ye'll see something yonder thicker, I ween, than a munebeam.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 7 by Various
Behind the decrepit beadsmen came a long array of Canterbury canons, chaplains and dignitaries in all their robes, followed by pages carrying the maces of Canterbury and York and the cross of Canterbury.
From Time Magazine Archive
Behind the verger walked a cross-bearer, the Canterbury choristers and seven decrepit beadsmen.
From Time Magazine Archive
Thy very beadsmen learn to bend their bows Of double-fatal Yew against thy state.
From The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare by Henry Nicholson Ellacombe
That its wood was certainly employed for making bows, we learn from Shakespeare:— "Thy very beadsmen learn to bend their bows Of double-fatal Yew against thy state."
From Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure by William Thomas Fernie
The betters are the factious noise of the alley, or the gamesters beadsmen that pray for them.
From Microcosmography or, a Piece of the World Discovered; in Essays and Characters by John Earle
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
