BE'ADLE, n. 1. A messenger or crier of a court; a servitor; one who cites persons to appear and answer; called also an apparitor or summoner.2. An officer in a university, whose chief business is to walk with a mace, before the masters, in a public procession; or as in America before the president, trustees, faculty and students of a college, in a procession, at public commencements.3. A parish officer, whose business is to punish petty offenders.
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